combination

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˌkɒm.bɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, US /ˌkɑːm.bəˈneɪ.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English combinacyoun,^[2] borrowed from Old French combination (modern French combinaison),^[2][3] from Late Latin combinationem (“a joining two by two”),^[2][4] a noun of action from combinare “to unite, yoke together”,^[2][5] from Latin com- “together” and bini “two by two”,^[2] from bi- “twice”, from Proto-Indo-European *dwo- (“two”).^[2] It is related to combine.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of uniting two things into a whole, or the state of being so united: the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[2] Merriam-Webster gives the 14th century,^[6] while the OED's quotations for the general sense begin later, in 1613.^[7]

Semantic evolution

A whole formed by uniting things is from the 1530s,^[2] about 1532 in the OED.^[7] An association of persons for a common end is from the 1570s,^[2] 1571 in the OED,^[7] and the banding together for such an end from 1593.^[7] Johnson in 1755 gave it first as “union for some certain purpose; association; league”, distinguishing a combination of private persons from a confederacy of states.^[8] In the Church of England a combination was also a plurality of benefices, from 1618.^[7] The combination lock is from 1851, and the series of moves that opens one from 1880.^[2] A small band of musicians is from 1928, compare combo.^[7]

Timeline

• late 14th century – a union of two things.^[2]
• c. 1532 – a whole formed by uniting.^[7]
• 1571 – an association of persons.^[7]
• 1618 – an ecclesiastical plurality.^[7]
• 1851 – combination lock.^[2]
• 1880 – the series of numbers for a lock.^[2]
• 1928 – a small band.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of combining, or the state of being combined.
2. The result of combining; a mixture.
3. An alliance of persons or groups for a common purpose.
4. The sequence of numbers or letters that opens a combination lock.
5. (mathematics) A selection of elements from a set in which order does not matter.
6. In sport, a series of blows or moves, as in boxing.

Word family

• combinational
• combo
• recombination
• linear combination
• combination lock

Related words

• combinative
• combinatory
• combine
• binary

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.