Respite (US)

Respite is a noun indicating a brief period of rest from something hard or unpleasant. Respite also has a legal meaning, where it can mean a reprieve of a sentence, especially in the case of a death sentence. Respite also has a second legal meaning which is the delay of a court appearance by the jury for additional deliberation.
Respite derives from the Old French word respit and it ultimately originates from the Latin respectus, which means "the act of looking back at".
The pronunciation of respite in American English differs from the pronunciation of respite in British English.
The correct pronunciation of respite in American English is ress-pit.
While in both cases the stress is pronounced on the first syllable and the first syllable is pronounced in the same way, in American English, the second syllable is pronounced as -pit, as if the final -e were not present.
This is different compared to the British pronunciation of respite.

General Lexicon

English