different between quittance vs acquittance

English

Etymology

From Middle English quytaunce, from Old French quitance (modern French quittance), from Latin quietantia.

Noun

quittance (plural quittances)

1. A release or acquittal.
2. A discharge from a debt or obligation; a document that shows this discharge.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III, Scene 5,^[1]

     I marvel why I answer’d not again;

     But that’s all one: omittance is no quittance.

3. (obsolete) Recompense; return; repayment.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[2]

     Qu[een]. Ah Mortimer! now breaks the kings hate forth,

     And he confesseth that he loues me not.

     Mor[timer] iu[nior]. Crie quittance Madam then, & loue not him.

   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act I, Scene 1,^[3]

     […] Plutus, the god of gold,

     Is but his steward: no meed but he repays

     Sevenfold above itself; no gift to him

     But breeds the giver a return exceeding

     All use of quittance.

French

Etymology

From quitter (“to make quits”) +? -ance, from quitte (“quits”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ki.t??s/

Noun

quittance f (plural quittances)

1. a receipt, a quittance

Descendants

• ? Italian: quietanza

See also

• acquitter

Further reading

• “quittance” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• acquittaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman acquitance, Middle French aquitance, from acquiter (“to acquit”). Compare later acquittal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??kw?t?ns/

Noun

acquittance (countable and uncountable, plural acquittances)

1. (now historical) A writing which is evidence of a discharge; a receipt in full, which bars a further demand. [from 14th c.]
2. (now rare) Payment of debt; settlement. [from 14th c.]
3. (now historical) The release from a debt, or from some obligation or duty; exemption. [from 14th c.]
4. (obsolete) The dismissal of a legal charge against someone; acquittal. [15th–19th c.]
   • 1791, Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest, Oxford 1999, p. 82:

     This was a task more difficult than that of self acquittance.

5. (now rare) The acquittal of one's duties; the carrying out of fulfilment of a job or role. [from 17th c.]

Verb

acquittance (third-person singular simple present acquittances, present participle acquittancing, simple past and past participle acquittanced)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To acquit.

References

• acquittance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.