coexist

Etymology

It is formed from English co- + exist,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and the OED compares French coexister.^[2][7] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford take it instead from Late Latin coexistō,^[8][7] formed from co- (“together”) and exsistō (“to exist”), itself from ex- (“out”) and sistō (“to take a stand”).^[8][9] The noun coexistence is recorded earlier than the verb: Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century, the OED to 1646.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To exist together or at the same time: before 1676, in M. Hale's Primitive Origination of Mankind, published in 1677.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the verb to 1667, Etymonline to the 1670s and Dictionary.com to 1670–80.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as to exist at the same time, quoting Hale on stars that coexist in constellations, and Locke.^[10] The political sense, of states or economic systems with different ideologies existing side by side in peace, appears in the Economist in 1931,^[2][3] and the noun took the same sense from 1954, in the Cold War.^[2][3]

Timeline

• before 1676 – to exist together or at the same time.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the verb to 1667.^[4]
• 1931 – of political or economic systems, to exist side by side in peace.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To exist together, at the same time or in the same place: Old and new customs coexist in the village.^[4][11][2]
2. To live together in peace despite differences, especially of countries with opposed political systems: The two neighbours learned to coexist after the war.^[4][11][2]

Word family

• coexistence
• coexistent

Related words

• exist
• existence

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 c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins