Com

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A term often used in internet domain names to designate commercial entities or websites ; a common abbreviation referring to communication or communications in various contexts ; a component in electronic circuitry representing a common or ground connection
2. An abbreviation frequently denoting a commercial internet top-level domain ; shorthand for communication in business or technological settings ; an electrical term for a grounded connection point in circuits
3. A label primarily identifying commercial websites on the internet ; a shortened form for communication used in technological and media discussions ; a technical term indicating the common ground in electrical devices

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "com" is that it is not really a word with its own history at all. It is an abbreviation, and the thing it abbreviates is "committee", a word that goes back to Latin "committere", meaning "to send together" or "to entrust". The ordinary English path runs from "commit" plus the suffix "-ee", the person to whom something is committed or entrusted, though the Oxford English Dictionary prefers this route over an older revival of the Anglo-Norman "commite", the past participle of "commettre". The short form took on its wider lives because the abbreviation was easy to spread. Once "com" came to stand for "communication" or "communications", it was never tied back to committees at all, and it became the familiar ending of commercial internet addresses, where it was reused to mark business sites. Its use as a common or ground connection in electronic circuits is a separate, technical borrowing of the same short form.

Synonyms: communication, commercial