means The act of formally quitting a job or position — or, more broadly, the calm acceptance of something unpleasant you can't change.

from From Latin 'resignare,' literally 'to unseal' or 'cancel' — from 're-' (back, undo) plus 'signare' (to sign or seal, the same root behind 'sign' and 'signature'). The image is wonderfully literal: to resign was to un-sign, to give back what your seal had granted. It traveled through Old French 'resigner' into English by the late Middle Ages. The double meaning — quitting a post and quietly surrendering to fate — both flow from that same gesture of handing something back.