Etymologically
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accomplice

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈkɒm.plɪs/, /əˈkʌm.plɪs/[1]
  • US: /əˈkɑm.pləs/, /əˈkɑm.plɪs/[1]

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]

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