Words with Stories

companion (n.)

A companion is someone who goes with you or spends time with you.

The word came through Old French from a Late Latin form built from com-, together, and panis, bread. Its older sense was a fellow or associate understood through the idea of sharing bread or a meal.12

The meaning widened into the familiar sense of a person who accompanies another. The bread is no longer part of the definition, but it is part of the word’s construction.12

She was his companion on the long journey.

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