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Origin and history of convenience

convenience(n.)

late 14c., "agreement, conformity, resemblance, similarity," also "state or condition of being suitable, adaptation to existing conditions," from Latin convenientia "a meeting together, agreement, harmony," from convenien-, present-participle stem of convenire "to come together, meet together, assemble; unite, join, combine; agree with, accord; be suitable or proper (to)," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + venire "to come" (from a suffixed form of PIE root *gwa- "to go, come").

Meaning "that which gives ease or comfort; a convenient article or appliance" is from 1670s. Sense of "quality of being personally not difficult" is from 1703. Convenience store attested by 1965.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to convenience

conveniences(n.)

"material appliances or arrangements conducive to personal comfort," 1670s, plural of convenience in the sense "that which gives ease or comfort; a convenient article or appliance."

con-

word-forming element meaning "together, with," sometimes merely intensive; it is the form of com- used in Latin before consonants except -b-, -p-, -l-, -m-, or -r-. In native English formations (such as costar), co- tends to be used where Latin would use con-.

*gwa-

*gwā-, also *gwem-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to go, come."

It might form all or part of: acrobat; adiabatic; advent; adventitious; adventure; amphisbaena; anabasis; avenue; base (n.) "bottom of anything;" basis; become; circumvent; come; contravene; convene; convenient; convent; conventicle; convention; coven; covenant; diabetes; ecbatic; event; eventual; hyperbaton; hypnobate; intervene; intervenient; intervention; invent; invention; inventory; juggernaut; katabatic; misadventure; parvenu; prevenient; prevent; provenance; provenience; revenant; revenue; souvenir; subvention; supervene; venire; venue; welcome.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit gamati "he goes," Avestan jamaiti "goes," Tocharian kakmu "come," Lithuanian gemu, gimti "to be born," Greek bainein "to go, walk, step," Latin venire "to come," Old English cuman "come, approach," German kommen, Gothic qiman.

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    inconvenience
    c. 1400, "harm, damage; danger; misfortune, affliction," from Old French inconvenience "misfortune, calamity; impropriety" (Modern French inconvenance), from Late Latin inconvenientia "lack of consistency, incongruity" (in Medieval Latin "misfortune, affliction"), abstract noun f
    gadget
    1886, gadjet (but said by OED corespondents to date from 1850s), sailors' slang word for any small mechanical thing or part of a ship for which they lacked, or forgot, a name; perhaps from French gâchette "catch-piece of a mechanism" (15c.), diminutive of gâche "staple of a lock.
    restroom
    also rest room, rest-room, 1887, "room set aside for rest and quiet" (in a workplace, public building, etc.); see rest (n.1) + room (n.). As these often later had (or were required to have) accessory toilet-rooms, by 1930s the word came to be a euphemism for "lavatory, toilet."
    commodity
    French commodit "benefit, profit" (15c.) and directly from Latin commoditatem (nominative commoditas) "fitness, adaptation, convenience...
    opportunity
    seasonable time," from Old French opportunite (13c.) and directly from Latin opportunitatem (nominative opportunitas) "fitness, convenience...
    pidgin
    Portuguese, and Malay words, arranged according to the Chinese idiom, used by the Chinese and foreigners for colloquial convenience...
    terminology
    The convenience of treating the termination ology (and a few other parts of compounds) as not restricted to Greek combinations...
    gimbal
    1570s, "joints, connecting links," alteration of gemel "twins" (late 14c.), from Old French jumel "a twin" (12c., Modern French jumeau), from Latin gemellus, diminutive of geminus (adj.) "twin, born together" (see geminate). As a type of contrivance for securing free motion in su
    John
    masc. proper name, Middle English Jon, Jan (mid-12c.), from Old French Jan, Jean, Jehan (Modern French Jean), from Medieval Latin Johannes, an alteration of Late Latin Joannes, from Greek Ioannes, from Hebrew Yohanan (longer form y'hohanan), said to mean literally "Jehovah has fa
    latrine
    c. 1300, laterin "a privy," probably from Latin latrina, latrinum, a contraction of lavatrina "washbasin, washroom," from lavatus, past participle of lavare "to wash" (from PIE root *leue- "to wash") + -trina, suffix denoting "workplace." The word's reappearance in 1640s probably

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