"C" Word Origins

confide

Latin

From Latin confīdere, "to have full trust in" — from con- + fidere ("to trust"). A doublet of "faith" and "fidelity."

confidence

Latin

From Latin cōnfīdentia, from cōnfīdō ("to trust fully") — from con- + fīdō ("trust").

confident

Latin

From Latin cōnfīdēns, present participle of cōnfīdere ("to trust fully"). Related to "confide."

confidential

Latin

From Latin cōnfīdentia plus the suffix -al, possibly modeled on French confidentiel.

confiding

Origin

By surface analysis, confide + -ing.

configuration

Latin

From Latin cōnfigūrātiō, related to configure — from con- + figūra ("shape, form").

configure

Origin

From Old French configurer, from Latin configurare. See configurate.

confine

Latin

From Middle French confiner, from Latin confīnis, "bordering" — from con- + fīnis ("boundary, end").

confinement

French

Borrowed from French confinement, built from confine + -ment.

confirm

Latin

From Old French confermer, from Latin cōnfirmāre, "to make firm" — from con- + firmāre ("to strengthen").

confirmation

Latin

From Old French confirmacion, from Latin cōnfirmātiō, "a strengthening" — built from confirm + -ation.

confiscate

Latin

From Latin cōnfiscō, "to seize for the public treasury" (fiscus).

confiscation

Origin

From Latin cōnfiscātiō. By surface analysis, confiscate + -ion.

conflagrate

Origin

First attested in 1657; borrowed from Latin cōnflāgrātus, perfect passive participial of cōnflāgrō (“to be consumed by fire; (rare) to set aflame”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

conflate

Origin

Attested since 1541: from Latin cōnflātus, past passive participle of cōnflō (“fuse, kindle, blow together”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

conflict

Latin

From Latin cōnflīctus, "a striking together" — from conflīgō ("to strike together").

confluence

Latin

From Late Latin confluentia, from Latin confluere "to flow together", from con- "together" and fluere "to flow".

confluent

Latin

From Latin confluentem, the present participle of confluere 'to flow together', formed from con- 'together' and fluere 'to flow'.

conflux

Origin

Borrowed from Latin cōnflūxus.

conform

Latin

From Middle French conformer, from Latin conformare, "to shape something to match a pattern" — from com- ("together") + formare ("to form").

conformable

Origin

Latin conformabilis

conformation

Origin

From Latin confōrmātiō. By surface analysis, conform + -ation.

conformity

Middle French

From Middle French conformité, built on conform + the noun-forming suffix -ity.

confound

Latin

From Old French confondre, from Latin confundere, "to pour together, mix up" — the same root that gives us "confuse".

confraternity

Origin

From Middle French confraternité.

confrere

Origin

From Old French confrere, from Latin confrāter. The word which was originally only used for the second sense became obsolete in the 17th century and reappeared in the mid 18th century as a re-borrowing of Modern French confrère whence the first sense is from.

confront

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin confrontare, from con- ("together") + frontem ("forehead, front") — literally "to stand front-to-front with".

confrontation

Middle French

From Middle French. Morphologically confront + -ation.

confrontational

Origin

From confrontation + -al.

Confucius

Latin

A Latinised form of the Mandarin honorific title Kong Fuzi ("Master Kong"), created by early European missionaries and scholars.

confuddle

Origin

Blend of confuse + befuddle.

confuse

Latin

A back-formation from "confused", ultimately from Latin confundere ("to pour together, mix up").

confused

Middle English

Originally from Middle English confused (“frustrated, ruined”), from Anglo-Norman confus + Middle English -ed (past participial suffix), from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō; now equivalent to confuse (a back-formation) + -ed.

confusion

Middle English

From Middle English confusioun, from Old French confusion, from Latin confusio, confusionem. Morphologically confuse + -ion.

confute

Origin

From Middle French confuter, from Latin confūtō.

confuzzle

Origin

Blend of confuse + puzzle. Compare befuzzle.

cong

Origin

From Mandarin 琮 (cóng).

conga

Spanish

From Spanish (danza) conga, "Congo dance", named for its sub-Saharan African roots.

conge

Origin

Accentless form of congé.

congee

Old French

From late Middle English congie, from Old French congié, congiet (modern French congé), from Latin commeātus (“passage, permission to leave”), from commeō (“to go and come”), from con- + meō (“to go, to pass”). Figurative senses generally borrowed from developments in French congé.

congenial

Latin

From con- ("with, together") + genial, from Latin genius, "one's inborn character or spirit".

congenital

Latin

From Latin congenitus ("born together with"), from con- + genitus, past participle of gignere ("to beget").

congestion

Old French

From late Middle English congestioun, from Old French [Term?], from Latin congestĭō (“heap, accumulation”), from congerō (“to bring together, accumulate, heap up”), formed by the root gerō (“to carry”) and the prefix con-.

congius

Origin

From Latin congius, from Ancient Greek κογχίον (konkhíon), from κόγχη (kónkhē) and κόγχος (kónkhos, “mussel shell”) + -ίον (-íon, “-y: forming diminutives”).

conglomerate

Latin

From Latin conglomeratus, past participle of conglomerare, "to roll together into a ball" — from con- + glomus ("ball of thread").

conglutinate

Origin

Inherited from Middle English conglutinaten (“(of a wound, broken bone, etc.) to knit, close up; to fasten; (figurative) to unite”), from conglutinat(e) (used as the past participle of conglutinaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin conglūtinātus, the perfect passive participle of conglūtinō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French conglutiner.

Congo

Origin

After Kongo, from Kongo nkongo (“hunter”). Compare Kongo dikongo (“spear”), Zulu umkhonto, Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀kóndó.

congratulate

Latin

From Latin congratulor, "to wish someone joy together with others" — from con- ("with") + gratulari ("to show joy"), related to gratus ("pleasing").