Late Middle English (in an earlier sense). From Anglo-Norman repungner, Anglo-Norman and Middle French repugner, French répugner to resist, oppose, be contrary, to fight off, repel, resist, to show resistance, struggle, to be contradictory, to show an aversion (to do something) and its etymon classical Latin repugnāre to offer resistance (to), to fight back, to object (to), to contend, argue (against), to be contrary (to), to be inconsistent (with) from re- + pugnāre to fight. Compare Old Occitan repugnar, Catalan repugnar, Spanish repugnar, Portuguese repugnar, Italian ripugnare.