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Etymology and origin of the English word converse

converse1 to talk

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1340 Richard Rolle, Pricke of Conscience
Borrowed from
Old French converser via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *wer-
Etymology tree of converse1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin versor
Latin conversor
English converse
From the same root · converse1
Latin obversor ← versor
Latin conversatio ← conversor

Pronunciation

  • UK: /kənˈvɜːs/[1]
  • US: /kənˈvɝs/[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning to talk is inherited from Middle English conversen (“to live, dwell; to associate with”),[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French converser (“to live, dwell; to talk”),[5][6][2][7] and directly borrowed from Latin conversor (“to live, dwell, keep company with”).[6][4] The Latin verb is the middle voice of the rare conversō (“to turn to and fro”),[5][7] a frequentative of convertō (“to turn about”);[5][3][4] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary analyse it as com- (“with, together”) and versor (“to occupy oneself”), from versō, frequentative of vertō (“to turn”),[6][2][8] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).[6][2] The OED explains that, as with other deponent verbs, Late Latin used the active form in place of the middle, which gave the Romance forms such as conversar and conversare.[5] The noun, conversation, is from English converse, the verb.[5][6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move about, live or dwell in a place or among people: 1340, in Richard Rolle's Pricke of Conscience,[5] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[6] Barnhart's first record is about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.[4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense "to turn oneself about" had become "to pass one's life, dwell, keep company with", and English first took the word in that sense.[5] In the 16th century it came to mean associating familiarly with people (1598, in Shakespeare), having sexual relations, trading, and being occupied or familiar with a subject, all now obsolete.[5][9] From the 1590s it meant communicating with someone,[6] and in 1615 it took the modern sense of talking with someone;[5][4] Barnhart notes that French had this sense by 1537 and Italian before 1306.[4] The OED regards the shift from "live with" to "talk with" as recent in both French and English, and most complete in English.[5] Johnson's definition, "to convey the thoughts reciprocally in talk", is the one the OED quotes for the modern sense.[5][10] The noun followed the verb: it meant acquaintance or social intercourse from about 1500,[6][9] and conversation or familiar talk from the 1610s.[6][5] It is now literary or archaic.[9][2]

Timeline

  • 1340 – to live, dwell, move about (obsolete by 1727).[5]
  • c. 1500 – noun, acquaintance through frequent intercourse.[6][9]
  • c. 1540 – to have sexual intercourse (obsolete).[5]
  • 1598 – to associate familiarly, consort; to deal or trade (obsolete).[5]
  • 1590s – to communicate with someone.[6]
  • 1614 – noun, familiar talk, conversation.[5]
  • 1615 – to talk with someone.[5][4]
  • 1668 – noun, spiritual communion.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To exchange thoughts and feelings in conversation; to talk: The two delegates conversed quietly in Spanish.[2][11][5]
  2. To commune spiritually or inwardly with.[11][5]
  3. (archaic) To associate or keep company with others.[2][11][5]
  4. (obsolete, 1340–1727) To live or dwell in a place or among people.[5][3][9]

Noun

  1. (literary or archaic) Conversation; talk: They held long converse by the fire.[2][11][9]
  2. (archaic) Social interaction or fellowship.[2][11]
  3. Spiritual or mental communion.[9][5]

Word family

  • converser
  • conversable

converse2 opposite

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1570 Henry Billingsley's translation of Euclid
Borrowed from
Latin conversus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *wer-

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkɒnvɜːs/[1]
  • US: /ˈkɑnvɝs/[1]

Etymology

The adjective and noun meaning opposite are borrowed from Latin conversus (“turned around, transformed”),[5][6][4][3][9][7] the past participle of convertō (“to turn about, transform”),[5][6][2][8] the source of convert.[4][7] The Latin verb is formed from com- (“with, together”) and vertō (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).[6] The OED notes that the noun converse occurs in French from the 13th century.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In mathematics, of a ratio or proportion: 1570, in Henry Billingsley's translation of Euclid, where the noun, a proposition reversing another, also appears.[5][4] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1560s and the noun to the 1550s.[6] Etymonline also notes Chaucer's in convers, apparently "on the other side".[6]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of mathematics, and later of logic, where from 1827 it named a converted proposition.[5][6] The general adjective sense, turned round or opposite in direction or action, is recorded from 1794,[5][6][3] and the noun meaning a thing or action that is the exact opposite of another from 1786.[5][6] The adverb conversely dates from the early 19th century.[9]

Timeline

  • 1550s – noun, in mathematics, according to Etymonline.[6]
  • 1570 – mathematics, converse ratio or proportion; noun, a converse proposition.[5][4]
  • 1786 – noun, the exact opposite of something.[5][6]
  • 1794 – adjective, opposite or contrary in direction or action.[5][6][3]
  • 1806 – noun, a statement made by transposing the terms of another.[5]
  • 1827 – logic, a converted proposition.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Reversed in order or relation; opposite or contrary: the converse argument.[3][9][5]

Noun

  1. Something that is the reverse or exact opposite of another: Saving is easy when prices fall; the converse holds when they rise.[9][5][3]
  2. (mathematics) A theorem formed by interchanging the hypothesis and the conclusion of another.[3][5][9]
  3. (logic) A proposition obtained by conversion of another.[3][5][9]

Word family

  • conversely

Usage notes

The verb is stressed on the second syllable, the adjective and the noun meaning opposite on the first;[1] the noun meaning conversation was at first stressed like the verb.[9][5] An obsolete third converse, a convert and later a lay brother or sister of a convent, recorded from 1388 to 1691, came from French convers, from the same Latin participle.[5][9][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon 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 e f g h i j k l m n o p Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Converse.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/converse. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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