Cofounded

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To establish something jointly with one or more partners; to initiate a project, company, or organization in collaboration with others; to share responsibility for founding an entity
2. To start or create an institution, business, or movement together with others; to be one of the original creators or originators alongside collaborators; to collectively lay the foundation of an enterprise or organization
3. To jointly originate or bring into existence a venture or group; to act as a co-creator or partner in the establishment of a structure or organization; to share the role of founding with others in a collaborative effort

Etymology: "Cofounded" is the past form of "cofound," which is simply "co-" attached to "found," meaning to establish something. The "co-" prefix comes from Latin "con-" or "co-," meaning "together" or "with," and it appears in English words such as "cooperate" and "coexist." Here it signals that two or more people share the act of starting something. The base verb "found" traces back through Old French "fonder" to Latin "fundare," from "fundus," meaning "bottom" or "foundation." The idea was literal before it was figurative: a building rested on its base, and to found it was to lay that base. English took the verb from Middle English "founden" and "found," and the sense of establishing an institution developed from the older sense of setting something firmly on the ground. Because "cofound" is built from two English elements, it needed no separate borrowing. The formation is straightforward: a prefix attached to an existing verb, producing a word that means the same act done jointly.