reply

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
reply/rɪˈplʌɪ/

▶verb (replies, replying, replied)

• 1 say or write something in response to something said or written.

• 2 respond by a similar action: they replied to the shelling with a mortar attack.

▶noun (pl. replies)

• 1 the action of replying.

• 2 a spoken or written response.

  ■ Law a plaintiff's response to the defendant's plea.

– derivatives
replier noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. replier, from L. replicare ‘repeat’, later ‘make a reply’ (see replicate).