commode (n.)
1786, "decorative chest of drawers for holding clothes, handy articles, etc.," earlier (1680s) name of a type of fashionable ladies' large, high headdress mounted on a wire frame, from French commode, noun use of adjective meaning "convenient, suitable," from Latin commodus "proper, fit, appropriate, convenient, satisfactory," from com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + modus "measure, manner" (from PIE root *med- "take appropriate measures"). Meaning "chair housing a chamber pot," usually kept in a bedroom, is first attested 1851 from notion of "convenience."
I wash'd and patch'd, to make me look provoking,
Snares that they told me wou'd catch the men;
And on my head a huge commode sat cocking,
Which made me shew as Tall agen:
[from a song in "Wit and Mirth," 1719]
Entries linking to commode
word-forming element usually meaning "with, together," from Latin com, archaic form of classical Latin cum "together, together with, in combination," from PIE *kom- "beside, near, by, with" (compare Old English ge-, German ge-). The prefix in Latin sometimes was used as an intensive.
Before vowels and aspirates, it is reduced to co-; before -g-, it is assimilated to cog- or con-; before -l-, assimilated to col-; before -r-, assimilated to cor-; before -c-, -d-, -j-, -n-, -q-, -s-, -t-, and -v-, it is assimilated to con-, which was so frequent that it often was used as the normal form.
Trends of commode
updated on October 13, 2021
Dictionary entries near commode
commit
commitment
committal
committed
committee
commode
commodification
commodify
commodious
commoditization
commodity
