Etymograph

English

complete

Complete comes from Middle English compleet ‘full, complete’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500compleet1‘full’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1897complete1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English complete
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500compleetWiktionary, English complete‘full’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1897completeWiktionary, English complete. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- ‘to fill’

people, public, full, popular, plus, fill, supply, poll, plenty, folk, plain, manipulation, supplement, implement, accomplish, plural, ample, amplitude, amplify, plethora, 89 more

Today it means

verb To finish; to make done; to reach the end.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “complete”. 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 / Middle English compleet / complete

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