Etymograph

English

companion

Companion comes from Late Latin compāniōn- (literally ‘with-bread’, messmate), from Latin pānis ‘bread’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpānis1‘bread’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcompāniōn-1
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400compaignon1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500companion1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597companion1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English companion
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “[L]et vs knog our praines together to be reuenge…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpānisWiktionary, English companion‘bread’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcompāniōn-Wiktionary, English companion
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400compaignonWiktionary, English companion
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500companionWiktionary, English companion
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597companionWiktionary, English companion. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “[L]et vs knog our praines together to be reuenge…”

The story

From Middle English companion, from Old French compaignon (‘companion’) (modern French compagnon), from Late Latin compāniōn- (nominative singular compāniō, whence French copain), from com- + pānis (literally, with + bread), a word first attested in the Frankish Lex Salica as a calque of a Germanic word, probably Frankish *galaibo, *gahlaibō (“messmate”, literally “with-bread”), from Proto-Germanic *gahlaibô.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to graze’

  • food ← fode ← fōda ← *fōdō ← *fōdô
  • father ← fader ← fæder ← *fader ← *fadēr
  • feed ← feden ← fēdan ← *fōdijan ← *fōdijaną
  • pattern ← patron ← patron ← patrōnus ← pater
  • pope ← pāpa ← papa ← παπᾶς ← πάπας
  • foster ← fōstor ← *fōstr ← *fōstrą
  • apparent ← apparaunt ← aparent ← appārēns
  • fur ← furre ← forre ← *fōdar ← *fōdr
  • pastor ← pastour ← pāscō ← *pāskō ← *péh₂sti
  • papa ← pater ← *patēr ← *ph₂tḗr
  • penetration ← penetracioun ← penetracïon ← penetrātiō ← penetrō
  • patriot ← patriote ← patriōta ← πατριώτης ← πατρίς

94 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A friend, acquaintance or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “companion”. 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 pānis / companion