Etymologically
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complication

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌkɒm.plɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/[1]
  • US: /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌkɑm.plɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English complicacioun,[2] borrowed from Late Latin complicātiō (“a folding together”),[3][4][5][6] a noun of action from complicō (“to fold together, fold up, roll up”).[7][8][9] The OED calls the source simply Latin and compares French complication, recorded in French in the 16th century;[8] the Shorter Oxford allows a borrowing from either French or Late Latin.[10] The Latin verb is formed from com- (“with, together”) and plicō (“to fold, weave”),[7][9] from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Involvement or combination, in a Middle English surgical text of about 1425, which distinguishes a simple condition from one in which two or more conditions are combined.[2] Etymonline gives the early 15th century and the sense "complex combination or intricate intermingling",[7] and the Shorter Oxford dates the word to late Middle English.[10] The OED's first record is from Cotgrave's dictionary of 1611, in the sense "the action of folding together".[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The literal Latin sense, a folding together, was used in English from 1611 to 1691, and "intimate combination" from 1655 to 1699; both are obsolete.[8][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of involving one thing in another and the state of being so involved.[11] With a plural, a complication was a complicated state of affairs from 1647, a use also found in medicine;[8] Etymonline dates the medical sense, an additional disorder that develops during an existing one, to the 1690s, and derives from it the general sense of whatever makes a situation more involved or intricate.[7] The sense "complicated condition or nature" is recorded from 1793,[8] a use in psychology for the combining of impressions from different senses from 1886,[8] and "a complicating factor" from 1903, in Shaw's Man and Superman.[8] Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary's distinction: complication implies an entanglement that causes difficulty, complexity a multitude of parts whose relations are hard to see.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – involvement, combination, in a surgical text.[2]
  • 1611 – the action of folding together (obsolete).[8][4]
  • 1647 – a complicated state of affairs; also in medicine.[8]
  • 1655 – intimate combination (obsolete).[8]
  • 1690s – a secondary disorder developing during an existing one.[7]
  • 1793 – complicated condition, structure or nature.[8]
  • 1886 – in psychology, the association of impressions from different senses.[8]
  • 1903 – a complicating factor, in Shaw.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A circumstance or factor that makes something more difficult or complicated: A late change of venue was one more complication.[12][13][14]
  2. (medicine) A secondary disease or condition that arises during an existing illness and usually makes it worse.[13][14][12]
  3. A complex or confused state; an intricate relationship of parts.[13][12][4]
  4. The act or process of complicating.[13][12][4]
  5. (psychology) The combining of sense data from different senses into a single impression.[4][8]
  6. (obsolete, 1611–1691) A folding together.[8][4]
  7. (obsolete, 1655–1699) An intimate combining of things.[8][4]

Word family

  • complicative

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  14. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press