Comp

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A concise term for computer science or a shorthand for composition, often used in academic or technical contexts
2. An abbreviation that indicates a subject related to computing or the act of combining elements in a structured manner
3. A shortened form referring to disciplines in technology or the process of creating written works or designs

Etymology: "Comp," in the sense of a computer science course, is a clipping of "complimentary," a word that has nothing to do with computing on its own. Its path into the clipped form is the odd part: "complimentary" comes from "compliment" plus the suffix "-ary," and it is a piecewise doublet of "complementary," meaning the two words split off from a shared source and developed separate senses. That shared source is why the two words can be confused, and why "complimentary" carries both the sense of praise and the sense of something given free. The word "comp" is the shortened form of that "free" sense. Students and schools used it for a course taken without charge, the kind of thing offered as a complimentary extra, and the clipped form was then applied to the course itself. In computer science, the term refers to a class a student does not pay for, such as one awarded as part of a program, so the word has travelled from an idea of gift-giving to a label for a specific kind of academic course.

Synonyms: comparison, compensation, complement