Etymology

reply

re·ply
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Today it means: To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer. Full definition →

Middle English replyen ← Old French replier ← Latin replicō, replicāre
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromreplicō, replicāre“to fold back”
  2. Old French · derived fromreplier“to reply”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromreplyen
  4. English todayreply

From Middle English replyen, replien, borrowed from Old French replier (“to reply”), from the Latin replicō, replicāre (“to fold back”) (in Late or Medieval Latin "to reply, repeat"), from re + plicō (“to fold”); the noun derives from the verb by nominalisation. Doublet of replicate and replica.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.