Relish comes from Middle English reles ('taste, aftertaste'), from Old French reles ('something left behind, aftertaste'), from relaisser ('to leave behind, release'), from Latin relaxare ('to loosen'). The historical chain includes Old French reles, Latin relaxare, and Latin laxare. Older glosses in the chain include "taste, aftertaste", "something left behind, aftertaste", "to leave behind, release", and "to loosen", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, relish is best read as borrowing, yielding an English verb and noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a verb and noun, with the sense "to enjoy greatly; a savory condiment or keen enjoyment". English derivatives include relishable; related forms include release. The result is an English verb and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.