subjoin

Etymology

The revised OED takes it as formed from English sub- + join, after Middle French subjoindre (“to add at the end”) (14th century) and its model Latin subiungō (“to bring under, attach, add”).^[2] Most other dictionaries treat it as borrowed from the Middle French verb, through its stem,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} which comes from the Latin one.^[3][4][9][6] The Latin verb is formed from sub- (“under; in addition”) and iungō (“to join”),^[4][9][10] from the nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *yeug- (“to join”),^[4][9] the root of join and yoke.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To add a word, phrase or remark at the end of something spoken or written: 1543, in Thomas Becon's Invective against Swearing.^[2][3] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford date it later, to the 1570s and the late 16th century.^[4][11]

Semantic evolution

From the start it was used both of adding matter and of adding quoted words, the latter sometimes as a kind of rejoinder.^[2] From 1632 to 1818 it could mean to attach something in a subordinate position,^[2] and since 1668 to place something next to another as an accompanying element.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to add at the end; to add afterwards".^[12]

Timeline

• 1543 – to add at the end of something spoken or written.^[2][3]
• 1632 – to attach in a subordinate position (obsolete by 1818).^[2]
• 1668 – to place next to something as an accompanying element.^[2]
• 1703 – to lie underneath and next to (rare).^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To add something at the end of what has been said or written: She subjoined a short note to her letter.^[3][10][2]
2. To attach supplementary matter, as an appendix or footnote.^[3][2][11]
3. To place something directly after or next to something else.^[3][2]

Word family

• subjoinder

Related words

• enjoin
• subjunction
• subjunctive
• join
• subjugate
• yoke

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.