Etymologically
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combination

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 22:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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.