combine

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɒm.baɪn/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English combynen, borrowed from Middle French combiner,^[2][3][4] from Late Latin combīnāre (“to join two by two, yoke together”),^[2][4][5] from com-, together, and bīnī (“two by two”) (see binary),^[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *dwo- (“two”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To unite or join two or more things together: before 1420, in Lydgate's Troy Book;^[2] about 1440 in the OED.^[6]

Semantic evolution

To join persons in action is from 1503,^[6] and to combine efforts or forces from 1529.^[6] To unite into one substance, especially chemically, is from 1799,^[6] and the intransitive, to come together into one body, from 1712.^[4] To unite distinct qualities is from 1827.^[6] The noun was used for a conspiracy about 1600, became obsolete,^[4][7] and was revived in American English in 1886–87 for a combination of persons, especially for fraudulent purposes.^[4][2][3] The harvesting machine is from 1910 in Barnhart and 1900 in Etymonline, short for combine harvester,^[2][4] and the verb, to harvest with one, from 1926, stressed on the first syllable.^[6][3]

Timeline

• before 1420 – to unite.^[2]
• c. 1600 – a conspiracy (noun).^[4]
• 1712 – to coalesce.^[4]
• 1799 – to unite chemically.^[6]
• 1887 – an alliance of persons.^[2]
• 1910 – the harvesting machine.^[2]
• 1926 – to harvest.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To bring or come together into one; to merge.
2. To join substances to make a single substance, such as a chemical compound.
3. To have or show together: to combine charm with skill.
4. To join forces for a common purpose.
5. To harvest grain with a combine.

Noun

1. A machine that cuts, threshes and cleans grain; a combine harvester.
2. An association of people or firms for commercial or political ends.

Word family

• combiner
• combinable
• intercombine
• precombine
• noncombining
• combination
• combinatory
• combined

Related words

• binary
• binocular
• bin-

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press