remission

Meaning

Noun

• A pardon of a sin; the forgiveness of an offence, or relinquishment of a (legal) claim or a debt.
• A lessening of amount due, as in either money or work, or intensity of a thing.
• An act of remitting, returning, or sending back.
• (spectroscopy) Reflection or scattering of light by a material; reemission.

Origin

• From Middle English remissioun, from Anglo-Norman remission, remissione, remissioun, remissiun and Middle French, Old French remission (modern French rémission), and their etymon Late Latin remissiō, Latin remissiō, from remittō + -siō. Remittō is derived from re- + mittō (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change, exchange; to change places, go past") or *(s)meyt-).
• The English word is cognate with Catalan remissió, Italian remissioni, remissione, Old Occitan remessió, Portuguese remisson, remissão, Spanish remisión.