Repulse comes from Latin repulsus, past participle of repellere ('to drive back'), from re- ('back') + pellere ('to drive, push'). The historical chain includes Latin repulsus, Latin repellere, and Latin pellere. Older glosses in the chain include "to drive back", "back", and "to drive, push", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, repulse is best read as compound and 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 drive back or fend off; to cause distaste or revulsion in". English derivatives include repulser; related forms include repulsion, repulsive, and repel. The result is an English verb and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.