Companies

How to spell companies

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce companies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does companies mean?

1. nounCommercial businesses or corporations, each treated as a single organisation.
2. nounOrganised bodies of people such as military units or performing troupes.

Companies in a sentence

• Several tech companies reported record profits this quarter.

• Two infantry companies were deployed to guard the bridge.

• The regulator fined three energy companies for overcharging customers.

• The festival featured several touring ballet companies from across Europe.

Where does companies come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin companio, a colourful term that literally meant 'one who eats bread with you', built from com 'together with' and panis 'bread'. The idea was of people sharing a meal, and by extension sharing their lives, so a 'company' was originally simply the people you broke bread alongside. The word travelled into English through Old French compagnie during the 1200s, at first meaning fellowship or a body of companions. From that social sense it broadened to mean any organised group, whether a band of soldiers, a troupe of performers, or a trading association, and eventually the modern commercial 'business firm'. The plural follows the regular English rule for words ending in a consonant plus -y, where the y becomes -ies, which is the small spelling trap here: it is companies, never 'companys'.

How the word is built

• com- (together, with)
• pan (bread, from Latin panis)
• -y (noun suffix), pluralised by changing -y to -ies