Definition

1. Verb:
   • To requite: To return a favor, kindness, or benefit; to repay someone for their good deeds or support.
   • To repay (a moral debt): To express gratitude and reciprocate through actions, often in response to a significant kindness, sacrifice, or upbringing.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Chúng ta phải làm gì để báo đáp công ơn của ông ta? (What must we do to requite his favor?)
  • Cô ấy mong muốn báo đáp sự hy sinh của cha mẹ. (She wishes to repay her parents' sacrifices.)
  • Lòng thành của anh ấy là cách tốt nhất để báo đáp. (His sincerity is the best way to requite.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is almost exclusively used in contexts involving deep moral or emotional debts, such as repaying parents, mentors, benefactors, or one's homeland. It implies a profound sense of gratitude and duty, not merely a transactional repayment.

Variants and Related Words

• Đền đáp (v): To repay, to compensate. Often used similarly but can sometimes imply a more direct or material compensation.

  • Anh ấy làm việc chăm chỉ để đền đáp cơ hội được trao. (He works hard to repay the opportunity given to him.)

• Báo ơn (v): To return a favor, to repay kindness. A close synonym with a strong focus on gratitude.

  • Tôi sẽ tìm cách báo ơn người đã cứu mạng mình. (I will find a way to repay the person who saved my life.)

Synonyms

• Requite: To make return for.
• Repay: To pay back or return, especially a moral or emotional debt.
• Reciprocate: To return in kind or degree.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Báo đáp công ơn: To requite/repay a debt of gratitude. This is the most common collocation.

  • Học thành tài là để báo đáp công ơn cha mẹ. (Studying to become successful is to repay the debt of gratitude to one's parents.)

• Ơn đền nghĩa trả: An idiom meaning "debts of gratitude must be repaid," emphasizing the cultural imperative of reciprocity.

  • Theo đạo lý, ơn đền nghĩa trả là lẽ thường tình. (According to morality, repaying favors is a matter of course.)

verb

1. To requite
   • chúng ta phải làm gì để báo đáp công ơn của ông ta?
     what have we to do to requite his favour?