Quits comes from Middle English quit ('free, clear of debt'), from Old French quite, from Medieval Latin quitus, variant of quietus ('at rest, free, discharged'), from Latin quies ('rest'). The historical chain includes Old French quite, Latin quietus, and Latin quies. Older glosses in the chain include "free, clear of debt", "at rest, free, discharged", and "rest", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, quits is best read as borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "on even terms with someone, owing nothing to either side". related forms include quit, quittance, acquit, and requite. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.