requites

Requite is a transitive verb meaning to return or repay something, especially a feeling such as love, gratitude, or kindness, or to repay a debt or injury in kind. In modern English it is chiefly found in formal or literary contexts; everyday speech tends to use reciprocate, repay, or recompense. For example: "She requited his kindness," and "He requited her love with equal ardor." The noun form requite is rare in contemporary usage; more common nouns are requital or reciprocity.

The verb is conjugated as requite (present), requites (third-person singular), requiting (present participle), and requited (past and past participle). The sense of returning a feeling or action in kind remains central across uses. The concept is closely related to reciprocity and recompense, though these terms may be used more broadly or differently in legal or social contexts.

In literature, requite often appears in discussions of romantic or moral exchange, and is characteristic of older or more elevated diction. It has declined in everyday English but persists in phrases such as "to requite love," "to requite kindness," or "to requite an insult with forbearance."