contraction

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰregʰ-“to drag, pull; to run”
2. Latin · derived fromcontractiō(n)“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”
3. Old French · derived fromcontraction
4. Middle English · inherited fromcontraccioun
5. English todaycontraction

PIE word *ḱóm From Late Middle English contraccioun, contraxion (“spasm, contraction; constriction, shrinking; act of pressing together”), from Old French contraction (modern French contraction), from Latin contractiō(n) (“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”), from contrahō (“to draw things together, assemble, collect, gather; to enter into a contract”) + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results). Contrahō is derived from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of objects) + trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)). By surface analysis, contract + -ion (suffix denoting actions or processes, or their results).

Words from the same roots