English
convention
Convention comes from Middle French convention, from Latin conventiō ‘meeting; agreement’, from conveniō ‘to come together’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to step’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷem-1‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷm̥yéti2‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷəniō2‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*komgʷəniō3‘to come together’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEveniō3‘come’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconveniō3‘to come together, assemble’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconventiō3‘meeting’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600convention3
- Englishearliest quotation 1988convention3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥yéti
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin venio
- 3 Wiktionary, English convention
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course: “In order to account for this, we might propose…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷem-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥yéti‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷm̥yétiWiktionary, Latin venio‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷəniōWiktionary, Latin venio‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*komgʷəniōWiktionary, English convention‘to come together’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEveniōWiktionary, English convention‘come’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconveniōWiktionary, English convention‘to come together, assemble’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconventiōWiktionary, English convention‘meeting’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600conventionWiktionary, English convention
- Englishearliest quotation 1988conventionWiktionary, English convention. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course: “In order to account for this, we might propose…”
Formed from convene + -tion
Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to come, to step’
…
Proto-Italic *gʷəniō
Latin veniō ‘come’
Latin convenio ‘come together’
Middle French convenir
English convene
The story
Recorded since about 1440, borrowed from Middle French convention, from Latin conventiō (‘meeting, assembling; agreement, convention’), from conveniō (‘come, gather or meet together, assemble’), from con- (‘with, together’) + veniō (‘come’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to come, to step’
come, coming, base, basic, basis, revenue, bass, cum, venue, pug, quim, contravention, 55 more
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥yéti ‘to come’
through Proto-Italic *gʷəniō ‘to come’
through Latin veniō ‘come’
event, avenue, adventure, inventory, intervene, advent, souvenir, inventor, provenance, invent, revenant, contravene, circumvention, 23 more
through Latin conveniō ‘come, gather or meet together, assemble’
Today it means
noun A meeting or gathering.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “convention”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥yéti, Latin venio. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- / convention