correspondent

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌkɒɹ.ɪˈspɒn.dənt/ (UK); /ˌkɔɹ.ɪˈspɑn.dənt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French correspondant or directly Medieval Latin correspondēns, the present participle of correspondeō (“to correspond, harmonize”),^[2][3][4] from com- (“together”) and respondeō (“to answer”) (see respond).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, answering to or agreeing with something: the early 15th century in Etymonline, 1432–50 in the OED,^[2][5] a sense since taken over by corresponding.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The noun, one who communicates by letter, is from the 1620s (about 1630 in Merriam-Webster).^[2][3] The newspaper sense, one who sends regular reports from a distant place, is from 1711.^[2] A firm with regular business dealings with another at a distance is a later commercial use.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1432–50 – agreeing, matching (adjective).^[5]
• 1620s – a letter writer.^[2]
• 1711 – a newspaper correspondent.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person employed by a newspaper or broadcaster to report from abroad or on a special subject.
2. A person who writes letters to another.
3. A person or firm with regular business dealings with another, especially at a distance.

Adjective

1. (archaic) Corresponding.

Word family

• correspondently
• noncorrespondent
• foreign correspondent
• war correspondent

Related words

• correspond
• correspondence
• respond
• co-respondent

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins