entry
complement
/ˈkɑmpləmənt/Something that completes, fills, or enhances another
From Latin com- (together) + Latin plēre (to fill).
from Old French compliement "accomplishment, fulfillment" (14c., Modern French complément )
+1 more sourcefrom Old French compliement "accomplishment, fulfillment" (14c., Modern French complément )
from Latin complementum "that which fills up or completes,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin complementum "that which fills up or completes,"
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Old French compliement "accomplishment, fulfillment" (14c., Modern French complément )
+1 more sourcefrom Old French compliement "accomplishment, fulfillment" (14c., Modern French complément )
from Latin complementum "that which fills up or completes,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin complementum "that which fills up or completes,"
+1 more sourcePicture a Roman clerk filling a measure to the brim: that simple act of making something whole lies behind Latin complementum, “that which fills up or completes.” The word reached English through Old French compliement and Middle English, arriving in the late 14th century with the practical sense of whatever supplies the missing piece. Its family has some wonderfully visible cousins: full, plenty, plenary, and replete all carry the same old image of abundance, while complete is its close double. By the 1870s, complement had wandered into music, where one interval “fills” another to make an octave; mathematics later used it for what lies outside a set, and biology gave the word to blood proteins that help complete an immune attack. The spelling split produced a famous trap: a complement completes you, while a compliment merely flatters you—but both began life close enough to be linguistic twins.
The Story
Picture a Roman clerk filling a measure to the brim: that simple act of making something whole lies behind Latin complementum, “that which fills up or completes.” The word reached English through Old French compliement and Middle English, arriving in the late 14th century with the practical sense of whatever supplies the missing piece. Its family has some wonderfully visible cousins: full, plenty, plenary, and replete all carry the same old image of abundance, while complete is its close double. By the 1870s, complement had wandered into music, where one interval “fills” another to make an octave; mathematics later used it for what lies outside a set, and biology gave the word to blood proteins that help complete an immune attack. The spelling split produced a famous trap: a complement completes you, while a compliment merely flatters you—but both began life close enough to be linguistic twins.
Modern Usage
A joking geek-culture insult for something outside or opposed to a defined region or object.
Kin & Kindred
From 'com-'·together, thoroughly, or intensively
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'plēre'·to fill
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary