cooperative

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kuˈɑp.ɹətɪv/, /kɔˈɑp.ɹətɪv/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin cooperātīvus,^[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of Latin cooperor (“to work together”) (see cooperate),^[5][3] from co- (“together”) and operor (“to work”); later partly through French coopératif.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Working jointly to attain an end: about 1600 in Etymonline, 1603 in Merriam-Webster.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The political-economy sense, of an enterprise owned and run jointly by its members for their shared benefit, is from 1808, from the pre-Marxian communist movement.^[5] The noun, a cooperative store, is from 1883,^[5][2] and a cooperative society from 1921.^[5] Willing to help, compliant, is a common modern sense.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1603 – working jointly.^[2]
• 1808 – cooperative economics.^[5]
• 1883 – a cooperative store (noun).^[5][2]
• 1921 – a cooperative society.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Willing to help or to do what is asked.
2. Done together with others; involving cooperation.
3. Of a business or farm, owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits.

Noun

1. A business or organization owned and run jointly by its members; a co-op.

Word family

• cooperatively
• cooperativeness
• cooperativity
• noncooperative
• uncooperative
• co-op

Related words

• cooperation
• cooperate
• operative

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press