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Etymology and origin of the English word conspire

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1362 Langland, Piers Plowman More words from the 14th century
Borrowed from
Old French conspirer via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin spīrō

Pronunciation

  • /kənˈspaɪə(ɹ)/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English conspiren,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French conspirer,[5][6][3][7] from Latin cōnspīrō (“to accord, agree, plot together; literally, to breathe together”),[8][5][6] from com- (“with, together”) and spīrō (“to breathe”).[5][3] Merriam-Webster names Middle French as the source,[4] the OED French with a date from Littré in the 15th century,[8] and the MED and Dictionary.com also allow the direct Latin source.[2][9] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded earlier, from 1311, for plotting secretly.[10] Etymonline wonders whether the literal idea was agreeing on a spoken oath to do something bad, or blowing musical instruments together in unison.[5] Ayto takes the Latin verb back to a prehistoric base Proto-Indo-European *speis- or *peis-, imitating the sound of breath.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To plot or devise something harmful: 1362, in Langland's Piers Plowman.[8] Barnhart dates the word before 1376, also in Piers Plowman.[6] The MED's senses begin with harbouring a grudge or planning maliciously.[2]

Semantic evolution

Latin moved from "breathe together" to "harmonize, agree", and only then to "plot".[8][4] English borrowed the bad sense first: the transitive "to plot" in 1362, and "to combine for an evil or unlawful purpose" about 1384, in the Wycliffite Bible.[8] The neutral Latin sense came later, as "to act together towards a result", from before 1538,[8] or the 1530s in Etymonline.[5] From about 1578 it is used as if events intended the outcome,[8][12] and Johnson (1755) gives "all things conspire to make him happy" as his second sense, after "to concert a crime".[13] Until the 18th century the word could also mean simply to agree in spirit or testimony.[8][14] For a time, 1393 to 1609, it could be said of a single person who plotted alone.[8] Related nouns are conspiration (before 1325) and conspiracy (1357), and conspirator follows in 1403.[6]

Timeline

  • 1362 – transitive, to plot or devise something harmful, in Langland.[8]
  • c. 1384 – intransitive, to combine secretly for an unlawful purpose, in the Wycliffite Bible.[8]
  • 1393 – of a single person, to plot, in Gower (obsolete by 1609).[8]
  • before 1538 – to act together for a purpose, without any bad sense, in Starkey.[8][5]
  • c. 1578 – of things, to combine as if by intention.[8]
  • 1579 – to agree in spirit or testimony (obsolete by 1734).[8]
  • 1614 – transitive, to unite in producing (obsolete by 1669).[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To agree together in secret to do something illegal or harmful; to plot: They conspired to rob the mint.[12][4][8]
  2. Of events or circumstances, to combine as if on purpose: Fog and a burst tyre conspired to make us late.[12][4][8]
  3. (archaic) To plan or contrive something unlawful.[4][14][8]
  4. (obsolete, 1579–1734) To agree in spirit or opinion.[8][14]
  5. (obsolete, 1614–69) To unite in producing something.[8][4]

Word family

  • conspirer
  • conspiringly
  • unconspired
  • nonconspiring
  • unconspiring

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  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. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Conspire.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/conspire. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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