entry
contrive
/kənˈtɹaɪv/invent or plan by clever effort
From Latin con- (with) + Greek trop- / tropos (turn).
from Greek tropos "figure of speech" (from PIE root *trep- "to turn"). Sense evolution (in French) was
from Late Latin contropare "to compare" (via a figure of speech)
from Old French controver (Modern French controuver ) "to find out, contrive, imagine,"
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English contreve (“to invent”)
Word Ancestry
from Greek tropos "figure of speech" (from PIE root *trep- "to turn"). Sense evolution (in French) was
from Late Latin contropare "to compare" (via a figure of speech)
from Old French controver (Modern French controuver ) "to find out, contrive, imagine,"
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English contreve (“to invent”)
A strange little word like this starts life in a marketplace of arguments, where one thing is literally set against another. Greek tropos meant a turn, then a turn of phrase, which is why English still uses trope for a recurring verbal trick. Add Latin com- meaning 'together,' and the French verb becomes a kind of mental tinkering: comparing, balancing, spinning ideas into shape. In medieval French, that same verb could drift from 'invent cleverly' to 'invent falsely'—a tiny semantic slip that feels very human. English borrowed it in the early 1300s, then later reshaped the spelling in the same mysterious 15th-century sound shift that gave us friar and choir. So to contrive is to turn things together in the mind until they fit, whether the result is a brilliant plan or a suspiciously neat excuse.
The Story
A strange little word like this starts life in a marketplace of arguments, where one thing is literally set against another. Greek tropos meant a turn, then a turn of phrase, which is why English still uses trope for a recurring verbal trick. Add Latin com- meaning 'together,' and the French verb becomes a kind of mental tinkering: comparing, balancing, spinning ideas into shape. In medieval French, that same verb could drift from 'invent cleverly' to 'invent falsely'—a tiny semantic slip that feels very human. English borrowed it in the early 1300s, then later reshaped the spelling in the same mysterious 15th-century sound shift that gave us friar and choir. So to contrive is to turn things together in the mind until they fit, whether the result is a brilliant plan or a suspiciously neat excuse.
Kin & Kindred
From 'con-'·with, together
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'trop- / tropos'·turn, turn of phrase, figure
Derived Terms
English words from this root