com-

with, together; sometimes thoroughly

Forms

com-
con- — Used before many consonants in Latin.
col- — Used before l in Latin.
cor- — Used before r in Latin.
co- — Shortened especially before vowels.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *kom, ‘with; beside.’

Note

In some formations, togetherness shades into completeness; the prefix’s exact contribution can be uncertain.

171 / 265

noun

conjugation

kahn-juh-GAY-shun/ˌkɑːndʒuˈɡeɪʃn/

The changing of verb forms to express grammatical information.

Verb conjugation shows who performs an action and when it happens.

A simple grammar notebook displays exactly walk, walks, walked, walking connected to the central verb walk.

Etymology

conLatinwith, together; sometimes thoroughly

+jugLatinjoin or yoke together

+ationLatinan action, process, or result

The pieces express an act of joining together; the Latin noun literally meant “a combining” or “connecting.” In grammar, this became the term for a verb’s inflection through its different forms.

In context

TED1:02

So we paid attention to a particular grammatical rule, past-tense conjugation. So you just add "ed" to a verb at the end to signify the past.

Jean-Baptiste Michel: The mathematics of history

More examples

We practice Spanish verb conjugation before each quiz.
Changing “walk” to “walked” is an example of conjugation.
This chart lists the present-tense conjugations of several irregular verbs.

Forms

conjugation · conjugations

conjugate verb — Change verb forms to show grammatical information.

Similar words

inflection: Covers grammatical changes to verbs, nouns, and other word classes.