Etymograph

English

command

Command comes from Old French comander ‘to command’, from Late Latin commandō, a variant of Latin commendō ‘to commend, entrust’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendō1‘to commend, entrust’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommandō1
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400comander1‘to command’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500commanden1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592command1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English command
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “Go to your mistress: / Say, I command her…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommendōWiktionary, English command‘to commend, entrust’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommandōWiktionary, English command
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400comanderWiktionary, English command‘to command’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500commandenWiktionary, English command
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592commandWiktionary, English command. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “Go to your mistress: / Say, I command her…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with command, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Latin commendāre

through Old French comander ‘to command, to implore’

  • commodore ← kommandeur ← commandeur ← commandeur ← comandeor

5 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun An order to do something.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “command”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin commendō / command