requiting

Requiting is the act of returning or repaying a favor, kindness, feeling, or debt. In English, the verb requite means to respond in kind or to repay; the present participle requiting describes the ongoing execution of that act. The term is used most often in formal or literary contexts and can apply to positive exchanges such as hospitality or love, though it can also appear in the sense of returning an injury or insult, a usage that tends to carry a harsher tone.

Etymology and background: The word comes to English from Middle English requiten, via Old French requiter. Its core sense has long centered on repayment or reciprocation—doing unto others as they have done unto you, in kind. The noun form requite is now rare outside literary contexts, where it may refer to a return or repayment.

Usage and nuance: Requite is commonly paired with a direct object that specifies what is being returned, for example, "to requite someone's kindness" or "to requite love." Phrases such as unrequited love describe a situation in which one party’s feelings are not returned. In contemporary speech, speakers often substitute reciprocate or return the favor for requite, reserving requite for more formal or literary prose.

See also: grateful reciprocity, reciprocate, repay, return the favor, unrequited love. Requiting remains a relatively formal, literary term in modern English and is less likely to appear in everyday conversation, except in stylistic or historical writing.