Etymology of the English word compass
the English word
compassderived from the Old French word
compasderived from the Old French word
compasserderived from the Vulgar Latin root
*compassarederived from the Late Latin word
passus (spread out; outstretched; dried; step, pace)
derived from the Latin word
pandere (spread out [passis manibus => with hands outstretched])
derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*petə-derived from the Latin word
pati (suffer; allow; undergo)
using the Latin prefix
com-derived from the Latin word
cum (with)
derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*kom (near, with, together)
Date
The earliest known usage of compass in English dates from the 13th century.
Derivations in English
encompass,
gyrocompass,
compassed,
compassingCognates
Dutch
kompas, French
compas, German
Kompaß, German
Kompass, Icelandic
kompás, Lithuanian
kompasas, Norwegian
kompas, Polish
kompas, Portuguese
compasso, Russian
компac, Spanish
compás, Swedish
kompassUsage
Word found in Modern English
