concurrent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English concurrent, also concurrant,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin concurrēns (“running together, meeting”),^{[4][5][6][7][8]} and partly borrowed from Middle French concurrent.^[3][9][10] The Latin is the present participle of concurrō (“to run together, assemble; to clash; to happen at the same time”),^[9][5][4] formed from con- (“together”) and currō (“to run”).^[10][8] The OED notes that the Latin participle was common as an adjective in Medieval Latin and that the French word was in use from the 13th century, which may explain the early English spellings ending in “-ant” and “-aunt”;^[4] the Anglo-Norman concurrent is recorded from 1113–19 as the name of the supernumerary days of the calendar.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Occurring or operating together: before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus ("circumstaunce concurant").^[2] Etymonline glosses the late 14th-century sense as "acting in conjunction, contributing to the same effect".^[9] The OED's first record is from 1495, in an Act of Henry VII.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb could mean "to run together" in space as well as "to clash" or "to happen at the same time",^[9] and the English adjective kept several of these senses: running side by side or happening together (1495), acting in conjunction (1532, in Thomas More), agreeing (1542), and, in law, having authority over the same matters (about 1530).^[4] Johnson (1755) gave "acting in conjunction" first.^[12] From before 1721 it was used of lines meeting at one point, later a term of geometry.^[4] As a noun it meant a contributory cause (1667) and, as in French, a rival (1591), a sense now rare.^[4][3] In the calendar a concurrent was one of the extra days of the year beyond 52 weeks.^[4][11]

Timeline

• before 1398 – occurring or operating together.^[2]
• 1495 – running side by side, occurring together.^[4]
• c. 1530 – in law, having authority over the same matters.^[4]
• 1532 – acting in conjunction, contributing to the same effect.^[4]
• 1542 – agreeing, consistent.^[4]
• 1591 – noun, a rival or competitor.^[4]
• 1629 – a lease overlapping another.^[4]
• 1667 – noun, a contributory cause.^[4]
• before 1721 – meeting at the same point, of lines.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Happening or existing at the same time: He is serving two concurrent sentences.^[13][3][4]
2. Acting together; cooperating or contributing to the same result.^[13][4]
3. Meeting at, or tending toward, a common point, as lines in geometry.^[13][4]
4. (law) Having equal authority or jurisdiction over the same matters.^[13][4]
5. In agreement; harmonious.^[13][4]

Noun

1. A contributory cause or circumstance.^[13][3][4]
2. (archaic) A rival or competitor.^[3][4]

Word family

• concurrently
• unconcurrent

Related words

• concur
• concurrence
• current
• course
• occur
• recur

References

1. ^ 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 e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins