Join

How to spell join

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce join

What does join mean?

1. verbTo connect or bring two or more things together, or to become a member of a group.
2. nounA place or line where two things are connected.

Join in a sentence

• verb

  She decided to join the local running club this spring.

• noun

  A thin line of glue was visible along the join between the panels.

• verb

  The plumber will join the two copper pipes with a soldered fitting.

• noun

  The carpenter sanded the join until the two boards felt seamless.

Where does join come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the 1200s from the Old French verb joindre, which meant 'to connect or bring together'. That French verb descended in turn from the Latin iungere, meaning 'to yoke' or 'to bind together', the very action of harnessing two oxen under one yoke. The Latin root is closely tied to iugum, the word for that wooden yoke, and the same family gives us 'junction', 'conjoin', and even 'yoke' itself through a much older shared ancestor. The spelling keeps the French 'oi' that captures the diphthong, which is why we write 'join' rather than anything closer to its sound. Over the centuries the literal sense of binding animals broadened into every kind of connecting, from joining a club to joining two pipes.

How the word is built

• join (from Old French joindre, from Latin iungere 'to yoke together'); a single root with no prefix or suffix