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compare

Etymology and origin of the English word compare

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1375
Borrowed from
Old French comparer via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (comparare)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /kəmˈpeə/, US /kəmˈper/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English comparen, borrowed from Old French comparer,[2][3][4] from Latin comparāre (“to pair, match, liken”), from compār “like, equal”,[3][5][4] from com- “with” and pār “equal”.[2][3] It is related to pair, par, peer and compeer, a doublet.[3][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To represent as similar, to liken: 1375 in the OED and Barnhart, in John Barbour's The Bruce.[6][3] Etymonline has “to regard as equal” about 1400.[2]

Semantic evolution

To note the similarities and differences of two things is from 1509 in the OED, about 1500 in Etymonline.[6][2] The intransitive “to bear comparison” is from the mid-15th century.[2] In grammar, to form the comparative and superlative of an adjective is from 1612.[6] Compare notes is from 1708.[2][6] The noun, comparison, is from 1589, chiefly in beyond compare;[6][4] the phrase without compare may have been influenced by compeer “equal, rival”.[2]

Timeline

  • 1375 – to liken.[6][3]
  • 1509 – to examine for differences.[6]
  • 1589 – noun, beyond compare.[6]
  • 1612 – in grammar.[6]
  • 1708 – compare notes.[2][6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To examine things in order to see how they are similar or different.
  2. To say that something is like something else; to liken.
  3. To be as good as something else: nothing compares with it.
  4. (grammar) To give the comparative and superlative forms of an adjective or adverb.

Noun

  1. Comparison, as in beyond compare.

Word family

  • comparer
  • uncompared
  • intercompare
  • recompare
  • comparable

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  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 j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Compare.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/compare. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·