accomplice

Etymology

It is probably formed from English ac- + complice, by association with accomplish,^[2] or with accompany.^[3][4][5] Etymonline, Barnhart, Ayto and Skeat think the indefinite article was absorbed, the phrase “a complice” being read as one word,^[6][7][8][9] and Weekley allows either explanation.^[10] Merriam-Webster takes it instead as borrowed from Anglo-Norman acomplice,^[11] and the OED compares accomplice, recorded before 1411.^[2] The older complice, "an associate or confederate", is recorded from the early 15th century,^[6] and Barnhart cites it from Caxton's “Charles the Great” (1485).^[7] It is from Middle French complice (“confederate, partner”), not used of crime,^[6][7] from Late Latin complex (“partner, confederate”),^[6][7][5] from Latin complicō (“to fold together, involve”),^[6][7] formed from com- (“with, together”) and plicō (“to fold, weave”),^[6][12] from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A partner in some undertaking, an associate: 1550, in T. Nicolls's translation of Thucydides.^[2] The sense of a partner in crime follows in Nashe's Almond for a Parrat, probably 1589,^[2][7] which Weekley quotes with the spelling accomplishes.^[10] Merriam-Webster dates that sense to 1584,^[11] while Ayto puts the first accomplice in Caxton's “Charles the Great”, in the late 15th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Like complice, the word at first meant simply an associate, with no suggestion of wrongdoing;^[8][6] the criminal sense took over from the late 16th century.^[2][6] Shakespeare could still use it jokingly of a general's companions in 1 Henry VI.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "an associate, a partaker, usually in an ill sense".^[13] The older complice remained in common use until late in the 19th century.^[8] The OED notes that the neutral sense survives, sometimes humorously alluding to the criminal one.^[2]

Timeline

• 1550 – a partner or associate in an undertaking.^[2]
• 1589 – a person who helps another to commit a crime (probable date); Merriam-Webster has 1584.^[2][7][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who helps another to commit a crime; a partner in wrongdoing: The police arrested the thief and two accomplices.^[14][11][2]
2. (law) A person who takes part in a crime with another, either as a principal or as an accessory.^[11]
3. An associate or partner in any undertaking, sometimes humorously.^[11][2]

Related words

• complice
• complicity
• complex
• complicate
• accomplish
• accompany
• ply

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins