quittance

See also: quittancé

English

Etymology

From Middle English quytaunce, from Old French quitance (modern French quittance), from Latin quietantia. The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪtəns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtəns

Noun

quittance (plural quittances)

1. A release or acquittal.
2. A discharge from a debt or obligation; a document that shows this discharge.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     I marvel why I answer’d not again;
     But that’s all one: omittance is no quittance.

3. (obsolete) Recompense; return; repayment.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Qu[een]. Ah Mortimer! now breaks the kings hate forth,
     And he confesseth that he loues me not.
     Mor[timer] iu[nior]. Crie quittance Madam then, & loue not him.

   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     […] Plutus, the god of gold,
     Is but his steward: no meed but he repays
     Sevenfold above itself; no gift to him
     But breeds the giver a return exceeding
     All use of quittance.

Verb

quittance (third-person singular simple present quittances, present participle quittancing, simple past and past participle quittanced)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To acquit; to repay.

Further reading

• “quittance, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “quittance, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

French

Etymology

From quitter (“to make quits”) +‎ -ance, from quitte (“quits”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki.tɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

quittance f (plural quittances)

1. a receipt, a quittance

Descendants

• → Dutch: kwitantie
  • Negerhollands: quittantie, quittansche
  • → Indonesian: kuitansi
  • → Russian: квита́нция (kvitáncija), квита́нція (kvitáncija) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
    • → Belarusian: квіта́нцыя (kvitáncyja)
    • → Bulgarian: квита́нция (kvitáncija)
    • → Kazakh: квитанция (kvitansiä)
    • → Kyrgyz: квитанция (kvitantsiya)
    • → Tatar: квитанция (kwitantsiyä)
    • → Tajik: квитансия (kvitansiya)
    • → Uzbek: kvitantsiya, kvitansiya
    • → Turkmen: kwitansiýa
    • → Ukrainian: квита́нція (kvytáncija)
• → Esperanto: kvitanco
• → Italian: quietanza

Verb

quittance

1. inflection of quittancer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

See also

• acquitter

Further reading

• “quittance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.