quit

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To stop doing something.

   I quit smoking three years ago.

2. 2
   verb

   To leave a job or position permanently.

   She quit her job to start her own business.

3. 3
   verb

   To leave a place.

   The soldiers quit the city at dawn.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Quit entered Middle English from Old French quitte, meaning “acquitted, exempt, or released.” The French word developed from Latin quietus, “free,” itself related to quiescere, “be still or at peace.” Quit first meant “free from obligation or debt,” and as a verb “repay” or “liberate”; the senses “leave” and “stop” appeared in the mid-16th century.

From Middle English quiten, quyten, from Anglo-Norman quitter, Old French quitter, from quitte (“acquitted, quit”), ultimately from Latin quietus, which itself derives from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyéh₁-ti-s, from *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Doublet of coy, quite, quiet, and quietus. Compare Dutch kwijten (“to quit”), German Low German quitten (“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren, Danish kvitte, Swedish qvitta, kvitta (“to quit, leave, set off”), Icelandic kvitta.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary