accompany

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English accompanien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman acompaigner and accompagner,^[2][3][4] from acompaignier (“to take as a companion”) (12th century),^[5][4] formed from a- (“to”) (from ad) and compaing (“companion”),^[6][7][8] from Late Latin compāniō (“companion”).^[4] The spelling was later adjusted to match company.^[9][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To go with a person as a companion, escort or attendant: 1426, in the Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster's earliest Middle English sense is "to make someone a companion".^[3]

Semantic evolution

By 1477 things as well as people could accompany something, going with it or completing it, and by 1543 the verb meant to occur at the same time as something else.^[2] Several early uses, to add one thing to another, to keep company with someone (sometimes as a euphemism for sex), to gather together, are now obsolete or rare.^[2][8] Johnson (1755) gave "to be with another as a companion" as the main sense.^[10] The musical sense, playing or singing a supporting part for a performer, is recorded from 1583, and the intransitive use from 1704.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1426 – to go with someone as a companion or escort.^[2][4]
• 1449 – to join or supplement one thing with another.^[2]
• 1477 – of a thing, to go along with or complement.^[2]
• 1543 – to occur at the same time as.^[2]
• 1583 – in music, to support a singer or player.^[2][5]
• 1704 – in music, intransitive, to play an accompaniment.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To go somewhere with someone as a companion or escort: An adult must accompany each child on the trip.
2. To happen or exist together with something: Fever often accompanies the infection.
3. To add something to something else as a supplement. The construction is usually with the prepositions with or by.
4. (music) To play or sing a supporting part for a performer.

Word family

• accompaniment
• accompanyist
• reaccompany
• accompanist

Related words

• company
• companion

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.