comprehend

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English comprehenden,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin comprehendō (“to grasp, seize, comprise”),^[5][6][7][3] perhaps partly through Old French comprehender,^{[5][8][9][10]} a learned form beside the inherited comprendre, the source of English comprend.^[5][11] The Latin verb is formed from com- (“with, together”), here probably "completely",^[6][7] and prehendō (“to seize, grasp”),^[5][6][3] itself from prae- (“before”) and a verb found only in compounds, from Proto-Indo-European *ghend- (“to seize, take”).^[6][3] Etymonline compares German begreifen, literally "to seize", which came to mean "to comprehend" through the writings of the 14th-century mystics.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To grasp with the mind, understand: 1340, in Richard Rolle's Pricke of Conscience, apparently the earliest sense in English.^[5][12] Barnhart dates it to about 1340, in an early Psalter.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the English senses did not appear in the order in which they had developed in Latin: some came early through literal translation, and "understand" because English needed a word for it.^[5] Chaucer used it about 1374 for perceiving with the senses, after Latin comprehendere visu,^[5] and the Wycliffite Bible (1382) for overtaking and seizing, a sense obsolete after 1607.^[5][12] Gower (before 1393) wrote of the zodiac that "comprehendeth" the signs, the sense "to contain, include",^[2][5][12] which Etymonline dates to the late 14th century.^[6] The physical sense "to seize, catch" is recorded only from 1584 to 1650,^[5][12] and in 1600 Shakespeare used the word as a malapropism for apprehend in Much Ado about Nothing.^[5] Johnson (1755) still listed "to comprise; to include" as the first sense.^[13] Understanding a person, as in "no one comprehends him", is recorded from 1860.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1340 – to understand.^[5][7]
• c. 1374 – to perceive with the senses, in Chaucer.^[5]
• 1382 – to overtake and seize (obsolete by 1607).^[5]
• before 1393 – to contain, include.^[5][2]
• 1535 – to enclose, as a line or surface.^[12]
• 1584–1650 – to seize, catch.^[5]
• 1860 – to understand a person.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To understand the nature or meaning of something; to grasp mentally: He could not comprehend why the bridge had been closed.
2. (formal) To include or comprise: The estate comprehends three farms and a mill.

Word family

• comprehendible
• comprehendingly
• comprehender
• precomprehend

Related words

• comprehensible
• comprehension
• comprehensive
• comprise
• apprehend
• prehensile
• prison
• prey
• get

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. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.