Etymologically
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comparison

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /kəmˈpær.ɪ.sən/, US /kəmˈper.ɪ.sən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English comparisoun, borrowed from Old French comparesoun, comparaison,[2][3][4] from Latin comparātiō (“a comparing”), a noun of action from comparāre “to make equal with, liken, pair, match”.[2][4] It is related to compare, par and pair.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of comparing or likening, and the capacity of being compared: 1340 in the OED,[5] the mid-14th century in Etymonline, as “equal, match, resemblance”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Phrases such as without comparison and beyond all comparison are also from 1340.[5] A simile in speech or writing is from 1382,[5] and the act of noting similarities and differences from 1393.[5] Etymonline dates putting two things together as equal to the late 14th century.[2] In grammar, the comparison of adjectives and adverbs (as in big, bigger, biggest) is a later technical sense.[6][7] Bear comparison with is from 1845.[5] The verb comparison, to compare, was used in Middle English (about 1325) but is obsolete.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1325 – verb, to liken.[5]
  • 1340 – the act of comparing.[5]
  • 1382 – a simile.[5]
  • 1393 – noting similarities and differences.[5]
  • 1845 – bear comparison with.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of comparing two or more things to find their similarities and differences.
  2. A statement or judgement that compares things.
  3. Similarity, or the possibility of being compared: there's no comparison.
  4. (grammar) The forms of an adjective or adverb that show degree, such as the positive, comparative and superlative.

Word family

  • intercomparison
  • recomparison
  • comparison-shop
  • comparison shopper

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins