Etymology

contract

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Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Old French contract ← Latin contractus
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contract · noun, adjective1

  1. Latin · derived fromcontractus
  2. Old French · derived fromcontract
  3. English todaycontract

From Middle English, from Old French contract, from Latin contractus (noun), from contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”) [from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”)] + -tus (suffix forming nouns from verbs).

contract · verb2

  1. Latin · derived fromcontractum
  2. Middle French · derived fromcontracter
  3. English todaycontract

From Middle English, from Middle French contracter, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”), from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”). The verb developed after the noun, and originally meant only "draw together"; the sense "make a contract with" developed later.

Words from the same roots

Latincontractus all →

contractual

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.