concur

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English concurren,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Latin concurrō (“to run together, assemble; to clash; to coincide”),^{[6][7][3][5][8]} formed from con- (“together”) and currō (“to run”),^{[6][7][9][10]} from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[7][3] The OED takes the hostile sense, to rush together in battle, as apparently the first in English, and compares French concourir, recorded in the 16th century.^[6] It is related to concourse, course and current.^[11][9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To act together, to work in concert: in John Walton's translation of Boethius (1410), as the MED and Barnhart date it.^[2][5] Etymonline gives the early 15th century, with the sense to collide or clash in hostility,^[7] and the OED's first record is from Gavin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid, before 1522, in the senses to collide and to rush at each other.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb's range of senses, from running together in a crowd or in battle to happening at the same time, came into English within a century.^[7][6] The violent senses died out by the end of the 17th century,^[6][12] and the peaceful senses of meeting and flowing together, and of lines converging, also became obsolete.^[6][12] Agreeing in opinion is recorded in the MED in 1433,^[2] and in the OED from 1590;^[6] coinciding in time is recorded from 1596.^[6][7] Johnson (1755) gave "to meet in one point" first and "to agree; to join in one action, or opinion" second.^[13] Weekley notes that in the 16th and 17th centuries it was often replaced, as a feeble joke, by condog.^[14] In church use, two feasts concur when they fall on consecutive days so that their vespers coincide (1863).^[6]

Timeline

• 1410 – to act together.^[2][5]
• 1433 – to agree, to be of one opinion.^[2] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1590.^[6]
• before 1522 – to collide; to rush at each other in hostility (both obsolete by the late 17th century).^[6]
• 1548 – to flow together (obsolete).^[6]
• c. 1550 – of people, to co-operate.^[6]
• 1570 – of lines, to converge and meet (obsolete).^[6]
• 1596 – to happen together, to coincide.^[6][7]
• 1863 – of two church feasts, to fall on consecutive days.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To agree or be of the same opinion; to express agreement: The committee concurred with the report's findings.^[15][4][6]
2. To act together or combine to produce an effect; to cooperate.^[15][4][6]
3. To happen at the same time; to coincide.^[15][4][6]
4. (rare) To converge or meet in one point.^[15][12]
5. (obsolete, 1522–1693) To collide; to rush together in battle.^[6][12]

Word family

• concurringly
• unconcurring
• nonconcur

Related words

• concourse
• concurrence
• concurrent
• current
• course
• cursor
• occur
• recur
• incur

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins