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complacent [complacent 词源字典]: complacent: see complaisant
[complacent etymology, complacent origin, 英语词源]
complain: complain: [14] Complain goes back to the Latin in verb plangere, source also of English plangent. This was formed on a prehistoric base *plak- (from which we also get plankton), and it originally meant ‘hit’. Its meaning developed metaphorically through ‘beat one’s breast’ to ‘lament’, and in medieval Latin it was combined with the intensive prefix com- to produce complangere. When it entered English via Old French complaindre it still meant ‘lament’, and although this sense had died out by about 1700, traces of it remain in ‘complain of’ a particular illness. Complaint [14] came from Old French complainte.
=> plangent, plankton
complaisant: complaisant: [17] Complaisant and complacent [17] are virtual doublets. Both come from Latin complacēre ‘please greatly’ (a compound verb formed from placēre, source of English please), but they reached English along different routes. Complaisant came via French, from complaisant, the present participle of complaire ‘gratify’, but complacent was a direct borrowing from the Latin present participle. It originally meant simply ‘pleasant, delightful’, and did not take on its present derogatory connotations (at first expressed by the now obsolete complacential) until the mid 18th century.
=> complacent, please
complete: complete: [14] Complete first reached English as an adjective, either via Old French complet or direct from Latin complētus. This was the past participle of complēre ‘fill up, finish’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and plēre ‘fill’, a word related to Latin plēnus ‘full’ (whence plenary, plenitude, plenty, etc) and indeed to English full.

The verb complēre itself came into Old French as the now obsolete complir (complete as a verb is a later formation from the adjective), and was prefixed with a- to produce accomplir. From its stem accompliss- English got accomplish [14].
=> accomplish, compliment, comply, expletive, plenary, plenty
compliant: compliant: see comply
complicate: complicate: see ply
compliment: compliment: [17] Compliment and complement, so often confused, are in effect doublets. They come from the same ultimate source, Latin complēmentum, a noun derived from complēre ‘fill up, finish’ (source of English complete and accomplish). English borrowed complement direct from Latin in the 14th century in the sense ‘fulfilment, accomplishment’, and by the 16th century this had developed the more specific metaphorical meaning ‘fulfilment of the obligation of politeness’ – hence ‘polite words of praise’.

But then in the 17th century came competition in the form of compliment, also meaning ‘polite words of praise’. This also came from Latin complēmentum, but along a circuitous route via Vulgar Latin *complimentum, Spanish cumplimiento, and French compliment. It gradually took over from complement in this ‘flattering’ sense, while complement went on to develop its leading current meaning, ‘counterpart’, in the 19th century.
=> accomplish, complement, complete, comply, expletive, plenary, plenty
comply: comply: [17] Like accomplish, complete, complement, and compliment, comply comes from Latin complēre ‘fill up, finish’. It was originally acquired in the 14th century, via Old French complire, but does not seem to have survived, and the sudden explosion in its use in the early 17th century represents a new borrowing, from Italian complire. Italian had the word from Spanish cumplir, in which the meaning ‘be courteous’ had developed. This passed into English, and though long defunct, seems to have been the basis of the modern English sense ‘be amenable or obedient’. Compliant [17] is an English development.
=> complete, compliant, compliment
compose: compose: [15] Etymologically, compose means simply ‘put together’; it comes, via Old French composer, from compos-, the perfect stem of Latin compōnere, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘with’ and pōnere ‘place, put’, source of English position. Amongst its many descendants and derivatives are compound, component [17] (from the Latin present participle compōnent-), composite [16] (from the Latin past participle compositus), and compost [14] (which originally meant ‘stewed fruit’, like the later-borrowed compote [17]).
=> component, composite, compost, compote, compound, position
compound: compound: There are two distinct words compound in English. The one meaning ‘combine’ [14] comes ultimately from Latin compōnere ‘put together’. Old French took two verbs from this: the perfect stem composproduced composer (whence English compose) while the infinitive became compondre, source of English compound. Its original Middle English form was compoune; the final d came from the adjectival use of the past participle compouned. Compound ‘enclosure’ [17] is of Eastern origin: it comes from Malay kampong ‘group of buildings, village’, and was borrowed via Portuguese campon or Dutch campoeng.

The English form was no doubt remodelled on the basis of compound ‘combine’.
=> compose, composite, position
comprehend: comprehend: see prey
compress: compress: see press
comprise: comprise: see prey
compunction: compunction: [14] Etymologically, to do something ‘without compunction’ means literally to do it without one’s conscience pricking. The word comes via Old French componction from late Latin compunctiō, a derivative of compungere ‘prick hard’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and pungere ‘prick’ (source of English puncture and pungent).
=> puncture, pungent
compute: compute: [17] Latin computāre meant ‘reckon together’. It was a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and putāre ‘reckon, think’ (source of English putative and various derived forms such as amputate, deputy, dispute, impute, and reputation). It was borrowed into Old French as compter, from which English got count, but English compute was a direct borrowing from Latin.

The derivative computer was coined in the mid-17th century, and originally meant simply ‘person who computes’; the modern meaning developed via ‘device for calculating’ at the end of the 19th century and ‘electronic brain’ in the 1940s.
=> amputate, count, deputy, dispute, impute, putative, reputation
comrade: comrade: [16] Etymologically, one’s comrade is someone with whom one shares a room. The word came via French camerade from Spanish camarada ‘room-sharer’, a derivative of camara ‘room’, from Latin camera. Cameraderie is a 19th-century borrowing from French.
=> camaraderie, camera, chamber, chamberlain, chimney
concatenation: concatenation: [17] A concatenation is literally a ‘chain’ of events or occurrences. It is a derivative of the seldom-encountered verb concatenate [16], which comes from Latin concatēnāre ‘chain together, link’, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and catēna ‘chain’ (source of English chain).
=> chain
conceal: conceal: [14] Conceal can be traced back to the Indo-European base *kel- ‘hide’, which was also the source of English apocalypse, cell, occult, and probably colour. It formed the basis of the Latin verb cēlāre ‘hide’, which was strengthened by the intensive prefix com- to produce concēlāre. This reached English via Old French conceler. Another offshoot of the Latin verb was the adverb clam ‘secretly’; from this was formed the adjective clandestīnus, acquired by English as clandestine in the 16th century.
=> apocalypse, cell, clandestine, hole, holster, occult, supercilious
conceive: conceive: [13] Conceive is one of a number of English words (deceive, perceive, and receive are others) whose immediate source is the Old French morpheme -ceiv-. This goes back ultimately to Latin capere ‘take’ (source of English capture), which when prefixed became -cipere. In the case of conceive, the compound verb was concipere, where the prefix com- had an intensive force; it meant generally ‘take to oneself’, and hence either ‘take into the mind, absorb mentally’ or ‘become pregnant’ – meanings transmitted via Old French conceivre to English conceive.

The noun conceit [14] is an English formation, based on the models of deceit and receipt. Conception [13], however, goes back to the Latin derivative conceptiō.
=> capture, conceit, conception, deceive, perceive, receive
concern: concern: [15] In earliest use, English concern meant ‘distinguish, discern’. This was a reflection of its ultimate source, Latin cernere ‘sift, separate’. In combination with the prefix com- ‘together’ it produced concernere, which in classical times meant specifically ‘mix together preparatory to sifting’. Later, however, the prefix seems to have taken on a more intensive role, with concernere reverting to the same range of senses as cernere.

By the Middle Ages these not only included ‘discern, perceive’ and ‘decide’ (whence English certain, from the past participle of cernere), but had widened considerably to ‘relate to’ – a meaning which emerged in English concern in the 16th century. Connotations of distress or worry began to develop in the late 17th century.
=> certain, discern