words of thanks; acknowledgements
Formal expression of gratitude, often used in speeches, prefaces, or written acknowledgements. Not casual 'thank you'.
Rare formal use for an apology; more commonly expressed with 謝罪 or お詫び. May appear in older or very formal written contexts.
At the graduation ceremony, he gave words of thanks to his advisor.
I include acknowledgements at the end of the thesis.
In old documents, 謝辞 is sometimes used to mean an apology.
謝辞 is a speech or words of thanks, while 謝礼 is a monetary or material reward given as thanks, not the words themselves.
Compound of 謝 (thanks, apology) and 辞 (words, speech). The kanji combination naturally yields 'words of thanks' or 'words of apology', with the former being the dominant modern sense.