Short for repossession, the act of taking back property due to non-payment. Also short for repository in computing contexts.
Abbreviated from 'repossession' in the 1960s, from Latin 're-' (back) and 'possidere' (to possess). The computing sense emerged later as shorthand for 'repository'.
The dreaded 'repo man' became a cultural icon representing the harsh realities of debt, immortalized in the 1984 cult film 'Repo Man'. Meanwhile, software developers use 'repo' daily, completely divorced from its financially ominous origins.
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