English
contract
Contract comes, via Middle English, from Old French contract, from Latin contractus, from contrahō ‘to bring together’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahōas trahere‘to draw, to pull’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontrahō‘to bring together; conclude a bargain’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontractus‘contract’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400contract
- Englishearliest quotation 1557contract
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahōas trahere‘to draw, to pull’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontrahō‘to bring together; conclude a bargain’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontractus‘contract’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400contract
- Englishearliest quotation 1557contract
Earliest quotation: 1557, Robert Recorde: “But now in eche kinde of these, there are…”
Linked words
through Latin trahō ‘to draw, to pull’
treat, attractive, portrait, abstract, attraction, extract, trait, distraction, tractor, distract, tram, traction, retract, trattoria, tractable, 33 more
Another origin of contract
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahōas trahere‘to draw, to pull’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontrahere‘to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontractumpast participle of contrahere
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600contracter
- Englishtodaycontract
The verb developed after the noun, and originally meant only "draw together"; the sense "make a contract with" developed later.
Today it means
noun An agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin trahō / contract