Where does “contract” come from?
Contract comes from Old French contract, from Latin contractum, the past participle of contraho, meaning to draw together, from the prefix com- meaning with or together.
contract (English): An agreement between two or more parties, to...
Definitions
- An agreement between two or more parties, to...
Ancestry of “contract”, step by step
contract traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French contract
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | contract | — |
| 2 | Latin | contractus | collected, accomplished, contracted; narrow,... |
| 3 | Latin | contrahō | to draw in, bring or drag several objects together; collect, assemble, gather, amass |
| 4 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 5 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 6 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 10 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 11 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 12 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 13 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 14 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via Middle French contracter
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | contracter | — |
| 2 | Latin | contractum | nominative neuter singular of contractus;... |