"C" Word Origins

compatible

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin compatibilis, from com- ("together") plus pati ("to suffer" or "to tolerate") — the same root as "patient."

compatriot

French

From French compatriote, built from com- ("together") plus patriote ("patriot").

compeer

Origin

From Middle English comper, from Middle French comper, from Latin compater, compatrem. Doublet of compere as well as compadre and goombah. Influenced by folk-etymological analysis as com- + peer.

compel

Latin

From Latin compellere, from com- ("together") plus pellere ("to drive"), the same root as "propel" and "expel."

compelling

Origin

From compel plus the adjective ending -ing.

compendium

Latin

From Latin compendium "a saving, a shortening", from compendere "to weigh together".

compensate

Latin

From Latin compensare, "to weigh one thing against another," from com- ("together") plus pensare ("to weigh").

compensation

Latin

From Latin compensatio, built from compensare, "to balance one thing against another."

compere

Origin

A borrowing of French compère (“partner, accomplice”), from Old French comper, from Late Latin compater (“godfather”), from Latin com- (“with”) + pater (“father”). Doublet of compeer, compadre, and goombah.

compersion

Origin

Coined in the early 1990s by a group of members of the Kerista Commune, a polyamorous group based in San Francisco, California, U.S.A., in existence between 1956 and 1991, apparently randomly using an alphabet board (similar to a Ouija board), with -ion (suffix forming nouns). The hypothesis that the word is derived from French compère (“partner”) + English -sion (a variant of -tion (suffix forming nouns)), based on an earlier use of French compérage by the French anthropologist and ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009) to denote the practice of brothers-in-law sharing wives observed among Tupi people of the Brazilian Amazon, is less plausible: a website run by former members of the community states that neither the word compérage nor Lévi-Strauss’s work was known to them at the time, and the formation of the word in this way does not correspond to any known morphological process.

compete

Latin

From Latin competere, "to strive together, to be fit for," from com- ("with") plus petere ("to seek" or "aim for").

competence

Latin

From Middle French compétence, from Latin competentia, related to competere, "to be fit or capable."

competency

Late Latin

From Late Latin competentia, a doublet of competence.

competent

Latin

From Latin competens, present participle of competere, "to be fit or capable."

competition

Late Latin

From Late Latin competitio, from competere, "to strive together."

competitive

Latin

From Latin competitus (past participle of competere) plus the adjective ending -ive.

competitor

Latin

From Latin competitor, from competere, "to strive together."

compilation

Latin

From Latin compilatio, "a plundering or gathering," related to compilare, "to plunder" — the same root as "compile."

compile

Latin

From Old French compiler, from Latin compilare, "to plunder" or "to pile together."

compiler

English

From compile, via Old French compiler and Latin compilare meaning to gather or plunder, plus the agent ending -er; applied to software from the early decades of programming.

complacence

Origin

From late Middle English complacence, from Medieval Latin complacentia, from Latin complaceō (“to please”).

complacency

Late Latin

From Late Latin complacentia, related to complacere, "to please greatly."

complacent

Latin

From Latin complacens, "very pleasing," from com- ("together") plus placere ("to please").

complain

Latin

From Old French complaindre, from Latin plangere, "to beat the breast in grief" — the same root as "plaintive" and "plaint."

complainant

Old French

From Old French complaignant, present participle of complaindre, "to complain."

complaint

Latin

From Old French compleindre, ultimately from Latin planctus, "a lamenting" — related to "plaint" and "complain."

complaisance

Origin

From French. See complaisant. By surface analysis, com- + plaisance.

complaisant

Origin

From French complaisant (“willing to please”), from complaire, from Latin complacēre (“please well”), from com- (“with”) + placeō (“please”).

complement

Latin

From Latin complementum, "that which fills up or completes."

complementary

Origin

From complement plus -ary; a near-twin spelling of "complimentary," which instead relates to praise.

complete

Latin

From Latin completus, past participle of complere, "to fill up" — from com- plus plere ("to fill"), the same root as "replete" and "deplete."

completely

Origin

From complete plus the adverb ending -ly.

completion

Latin

From Latin completio, from complere, "to fill up or finish."

completive

Origin

From Latin complētīvus.

complex

Latin

From Latin complexus, past participle of complector, "to entwine or encircle," from com- ("together") plus plectere ("to weave" or "braid").

complexion

Medieval Latin

From Old French complexion, from Medieval Latin complexio, "constitution" — related to complector, "to entwine or encompass."

complexional

Origin

From complexion + -al.

complexity

Origin

From complex plus the noun ending -ity.

compliance

Origin

From comply plus the noun ending -ance.

compliancy

Origin

From compliant + -cy or comply + -ancy or compliance + -y.

compliant

Origin

From comply plus the adjective ending -ant.

complicate

Latin

From Latin complicatus, "folded together," from com- ("together") + plicare ("to fold") — the same root that gives us "complex" and "plait."

complication

Latin

From Latin complicatio, "a folding together," the noun form of complicare — see "complicate."

complicit

Origin

Formed from "complicity," likely shaped by words like "explicit" that end in -icit.

complicity

Late Latin

From French complicité, ultimately from Old French complice ("accomplice"), from Late Latin complex, "confederate" or "partner."

compliment

French

From French compliment, ultimately from Latin complere "to fill up, complete", by way of Spanish and Italian words for an act of courtesy.

complimentary

Origin

From "compliment" (noun) + the suffix "-ary." A near-doublet of "complementary," which comes from a different root meaning "completing."

complot

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French complot (“crowd-, plot”).