English
complete
Complete comes from Middle English compleet ‘full, complete’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500compleet‘full’
- Englishearliest quotation 1897complete
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500compleet‘full’
- Englishearliest quotation 1897complete
Earliest quotation: 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, puri, amplify, plenary, plethora, replenish, depletion, volk, plenum, plebs, replete, plebeian, fulsome, deplete, 78 more
Today it means
verb To finish; to make done; to reach the end.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English compleet / complete