Connect

How to spell connect

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce connect

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does connect mean?

1. verbTo join two or more things together, or to establish a link or relationship between them.

Connect in a sentence

• The electrician arrived to connect the new oven to the mains.

• A short bridge will connect the two halves of the office.

Where does connect come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Connect comes from the Latin verb conectere, later spelled connectere, which meant 'to bind or tie together'. It was formed from the prefix con-, meaning 'together', joined to the verb nectere, 'to bind, fasten or weave'. The same nectere root sits inside the word 'annex', literally something bound on, and behind the noun 'nexus', a binding link or knot. English took the word in during the 1400s in the sense of joining or fastening things, and the figurative idea of linking people, ideas or places followed naturally. The doubled n that trips writers up is genuine: it comes straight from the assimilated Latin spelling connectere, where con- met the n of nectere.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• nect (to bind, tie)