Meanings
present singular third person pays back · participle present paying back · participle past paid back · past paid back
- transitiveTo pay (a debt or the lender) so as to provide the entire amount of money owed.
He paid back all the money he owed her, with interest.
2 more examples
Douglas: Roy, give me £20. Roy: What? Douglas: Give me £20. I'll pay you back.
2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1He paid her back with interest, giving her ₿3 and an NFT for the $6 he'd borrowed last week.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbact or give recompense in recognition of someone's behavior or actions
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Ancient Greek ἀποτίνω, ἀποτίνω
- ἀποτίνω (apotínō)to repay
- ἀποτίνω (apotínō)to exact revenge
Arabic جَازَى
- جَازَى (jāzā)to repay
Bulgarian връщам пари, разплащам се
- връщам пари (vrăštam pari)to repay
- разплащам се (razplaštam se)to repay
Chinese Mandarin 賠 /赔, 報償 /报偿
- 賠 /赔 (péi)to repay
- 報償 /报偿 (bàocháng)to repay
- 償 /偿 (cháng)to repay
- 償還 /偿还 (chánghuán)to repay
- 復仇 /复仇 (fùchóu)to exact revenge
Danish tilbagebetale
- tilbagebetaleto repay
Dutch terugbetalen
- terugbetalento repay
Esperanto repagi
- repagito repay
Finnish maksaa takaisin, palauttaa
- maksaa takaisinto repay
- palauttaato repay
- hyvittääto repay
- maksaato repay
- maksaa samalla mitallato exact revenge
- maksaa potut pottuinato exact revenge
- palauttaato exact revenge
French rembourser, rendre
- rembourserto repay
- rendreto repay
- rendre la pareilleto exact revenge
German zurückzahlen, sich revanchieren
- zurückzahlento repay
- sich revanchierento exact revenge
- heimzahlento exact revenge
- sich rächento exact revenge
- vergeltento exact revenge
Greek εξοφλώ
- εξοφλώ (exofló)to repay
Icelandic endurgjalda
- endurgjaldato repay
Irish aisíoc
- aisíocto repay
Italian ripagare, restituire
- ripagareto repay
- restituireto repay
Japanese 払い戻す
- 払い戻す (haraimodosu)to repay
Korean 갚다
- 갚다 (gapda)to repay
Latin rependō, rependō
- rependōto repay
- rependōto exact revenge
Māori whakautu, whakautu moni
- whakaututo repay
- whakautu monito repay
Polish spłacać, spłacić
- spłacaćto repay
- spłacićto repay
- odpłacać sięto exact revenge
- odpłacić sięto exact revenge
Portuguese devolver, retribuir
- devolverto repay
- retribuirto exact revenge
Russian отплатить, расплатиться
- отплатить (otplatitʹ)to repay
- расплатиться (rasplatitʹsja)to repay
- отплатить (otplatitʹ)to exact revenge
Scottish Gaelic ath-dhìol
- ath-dhìolto repay
Spanish devolver, hacer pagar
- devolverto repay
- hacer pagarto exact revenge
- vengarseto exact revenge
- desquitarseto exact revenge
Swahili kulipa
- kulipato repay
Swedish betala tillbaka, betala tillbaks
- betala tillbakato repay
- betala tillbaksto repay
- betala bakto repay
- hämnasto exact revenge
- ge igento exact revenge
- ge betalt för gammal ostto exact revenge
Vietnamese trả
- trảto repay
Cite this entry
pay back. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20back
“pay back.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20back. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pay back,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20back.
Source: pay back on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.