From Latin de + expetere, from petere.

despedir (first-person singular present despido, third-person singular present despide, first-person singular preterite despedín, past participle despedido)
despedir (first-person singular present despido or despeço, first-person singular preterite despedim or despedi, past participle despedido, reintegrationist norm)

1. (transitive) fire (terminate the employment of)

   Synonyms: dimitir, dispensar, exonerar, destituír

   Antonyms: contratar, empregar

2. (reflexive) to say goodbye (to someone)

   Antonyms: saudar, cumprimentar

• (say goodbye): usually takes the pronoun se (i.e., used as a reflexive verb).

• “despedir”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• “despedir” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).

• despidir (obsolete)
• dispidir (eye dialect)

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *deexpetere, from Latin dē- + expetō (“to desire, to strive for”), from petō (“to ask for, to seek”).

• Homophone: despedi (Brazil)
• Hyphenation: des‧pe‧dir

despedir (first-person singular present despeço, first-person singular preterite despedi, past participle despedido)

1. (transitive) fire (terminate the employment of)

   Synonyms: demitir, dispensar, exonerar, destituir

   Antonyms: contratar, empregar

2. (reflexive) to say goodbye to someone

   Antonyms: saudar, cumprimentar

3. (reflexive, reciprocal) to farewell (to bid farewell)
4. to quit; to resign (to stop working a job)

• (say goodbye): usually takes the pronoun se (i.e., used as a reflexive verb).

From Old Spanish espedir (“to ask to leave”), influenced by des-, from expetō (“to claim, to demand”), from petō (“to request, to seek”).

• IPA^(key): /despeˈdiɾ/ [d̪es.peˈð̞iɾ]
• Rhymes: -iɾ
• Syllabification: des‧pe‧dir

despedir (first-person singular present despido, first-person singular preterite despedí, past participle despedido)

1. to dismiss
2. to fire from a job

   Está usted despedido.

   You're fired.

3. (reflexive, with de) to say goodbye (to someone)

   Despídete de ellos.

   Say goodbye to them.

• Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

• “despedir”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10