Companion

How to spell companion

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce companion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does companion mean?

1. nounA person who accompanies, spends time with, or keeps company with another.
2. nounA reference book or guide designed to go alongside a subject or another work.

Companion in a sentence

• His loyal companion waited outside the office for an hour.

• The museum sells a handy companion to the exhibition at the gift shop.

• The elderly woman hired a live-in companion to help around the house.

• This cookbook works as a companion to the television series.

Where does companion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word reaches English from the Old French compaignon, which came in turn from the Late Latin companionem, the accusative of companio. That coinage is wonderfully literal: it was built from com-, meaning 'with' or 'together', and panis, meaning 'bread', so a companion was originally 'one who eats bread with you', a messmate or table-fellow. The Latin term itself seems to have been modelled on an older Germanic expression carrying the same image of sharing a loaf. English adopted it in the 1300s, and over time it broadened from someone you literally dined with to any person who keeps you company. The buried 'pan' for bread is a handy memory aid: companion shares its root with 'pantry' and the Spanish 'pan', and remembering the bread keeps the single n in 'compan-' and the -ion ending firmly in place.

How the word is built

• com- (with, together)
• pan (bread, from Latin panis)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)