/rɪˈkwaɪt/
[verb] To give something in return for what you have received, especially to repay a feeling such as love or kindness — or to take revenge on someone for harm they have done to you.
Requited love is love paid back like a debt — the word comes from the same root as 'quit,' meaning to be free and clear.
The story of 'requite' begins with the idea of settling a score — not in the modern sense of revenge, but in the very literal, almost financial sense of clearing a balance. The word entered English in the early 16th century, built from the prefix 're-' (meaning 'back' or 'again') and the verb 'quite,' an early English form meaning 'to pay back' or 'to free from obligation.' That inner word 'quite' came from Old French 'quiter,' meaning 'to release' or 'to clear a debt,' which in turn descended from Medieval Latin 'quietare,' meaning 'to make quiet' or 'to put at rest' — itself from Latin 'quietus,' meaning 'at rest' or 'free from disturbance.'
The chain of transmission is clear: Latin 'quietus' → Medieval Latin 'quietare' → Old French 'quiter' → Middle English 'quite' → English 'requite.' What is remarkable is that this family of words all share the same underlying image: a mind or account finally at peace because all debts have been settled. To be 'quit' of something in old English meant to be free of it, released from it — as we still say today when we tell someone to 'call it quits.'
In the 16th and 17th centuries, 'requite' carried a broad double meaning that it has since narrowed. On one hand, you could requite a kindness by returning a favour; on the other, you could requite an injury by taking revenge. Both meanings rested on the same logic: whatever you have given me, I will give back in equal measure. Shakespeare used the word frequently in this balanced, reciprocal sense — in 'Othello,' in 'The Merchant of Venice,' in 'As You Like It' — giving it a gravity that felt almost legal, as though love and hate alike were contracts to be honoured.
Over time, the word became most strongly associated with romantic love, and particularly with the painful question of whether love is returned. 'Unrequited love' — love that is felt on one side but not answered on the other — became one of the most evocative phrases in the English language, used by poets and novelists to describe that particular ache of giving something precious and receiving nothing back. The word 'unrequited' is, in many ways, more famous than 'requite' itself, kept alive by its role in literature while its parent verb quietly faded from everyday speech.
Today, 'requite' feels slightly formal, even archaic, which gives it a special power when it appears. Writers use it precisely because it sounds old — it carries the weight of Shakespeare and the King James Bible — and that gravity suits the grand, serious emotions it typically describes. The related word 'quit,' by contrast, has drifted into casual everyday use, and 'quiet' has moved so far from its origins that few people would ever guess these three words share the same ancient root in the Latin idea of rest, peace, and a world finally in balance.