Etymologically
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cooperative

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 16:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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