common
- common
\ \ [13] Common comes ultimately from an Indo-European base *moi-, *mei-, signifying ‘change, exchange’, which also produced English immune, mutate, mutual, and remunerate. A derivative of this base, *moin-, *mein- seems to have joined up with the Indo- European collective *kom- to produce *komoin-, *komein- ‘shared by all’. In Germanic this became *gamainiz, source of English mean ‘despicable’, while in Latin it gave commūnis, source, via Old French comun, of English common. Both the Latin and French forms have given English a number of derivatives: from the former we have community [14] (Latin commūnitātis), communion [14] (Latin commūniō), and communicate [16] (Latin commūnicāre), while the latter has yielded commune [13] (Old French comuner) and communism [19] (French communisme, coined around 1840).
\ \ Cf.⇒ COMMUNICATE, COMMUNISM, COMMUNITY, IMMUNE, MEAN, MUTUAL, MUTATE, REMUNERATE
Word origins - 2ed.
J. Ayto.
2005.
:
Look at other dictionaries:
common — com·mon 1 adj 1 a: of or relating to a community at large: public common defense b: known to the community a common thief 2: belonging to or shared by two or more persons or things or by all members of a group … Law dictionary
Common — Com mon, a. [Compar. {Commoner}; superl. {Commonest}.] [OE. commun, comon, OF. comun, F. commun, fr. L. communis; com + munis ready to be of service; cf. Skr. mi to make fast, set up, build, Goth. gamains common, G. gemein, and E. mean low,… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Common — in einer Ausgabe von Men s Health (2006) Common (* 13. März 1972 in Chicago, Illinois; bürgerlicher Name Lonnie Rashid Lynn) ist ein US amerikanischer Rapper und Schauspieler. Inhaltsverzeich … Deutsch Wikipedia
Common — Datos generales Nombre real Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. Nacimi … Wikipedia Español
common — [käm′ən] adj. [ME commun < OFr comun < L communis (OL comoinis), shared by all or many < IE * kom moini , common (< * kom,COM + * moini , achievement < base * mei , to exchange, barter) > OE gemæne, public, general, Ger gemein:… … English World dictionary
common — adj 1 *universal, general, generic Analogous words: shared, partaken, participated (see SHARE vb): joined or joint, united, conjoined, connected, associated (see corresponding verbs at JOIN): merged, blended, amalgamated (see MIX) Antonyms:… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
Common — Com mon, n. 1. The people; the community. [Obs.] The weal o the common. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure, for pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the public; or to a number of persons. [1913… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
common — ► ADJECTIVE (commoner, commonest) 1) occurring, found, or done often; not rare. 2) without special qualities, rank, or position; ordinary. 3) of the most familiar type. 4) showing a lack of taste and refinement supposedly typical of the lower… … English terms dictionary
common — [adj1] average, ordinary accepted, banal, bourgeois, casual, characteristic, colloquial, comformable, commonplace, conventional, current, customary, daily, everyday, familiar, frequent, general, habitual, hackneyed, homely, humdrum, informal,… … New thesaurus
Common — Com mon, v. i. 1. To converse together; to discourse; to confer. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of. Grafton. [1913 Webster] 2. To participate. [Obs.] Sir T. More. [1913… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
common — see mutual … Modern English usage
