Repeal comes from Anglo-Norman repeler, from Old French rapeler ('to call back, revoke'), from re- ('back') + apeler ('to call'), from Latin appellare ('to address, appeal to'). The historical chain includes Old French rapeler, Latin appellare, and Latin pellere. The quoted older senses, "to call back, revoke", "back", "to call", and "to address, appeal to", supply the semantic anchors for repeal. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word repeal carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a verb, "to revoke or annul a law officially". English derivatives include repealable and repealer; related English forms include appeal and peal. The result is a verb and noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.