Compares

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To analyze the characteristics or qualities of multiple subjects in relation to one another
2. To assess and contrast the attributes or features of various items or concepts for a clearer understanding
3. To evaluate how two or more things are alike or different by looking at their traits

Etymology: "Compares" is simply the third-person singular present form of "compare", so its history is that of the verb. The verb came into English from Old French "comparer", which had itself been taken from Latin "comparare", meaning "to prepare" or "to procure". That Latin sense is the surprise: the word began as a verb about getting things ready or matching up goods, and the idea of setting one thing beside another only developed later from the notion of pairing things together. The Latin root lies in "compar", meaning "like or equal to another", built from "com-" (together) and "par" (equal). So the core idea is of putting equals side by side, which is exactly what the modern verb does when it sets subjects against one another to weigh their qualities. English already had a native verb for the job, Old English "metan", which also meant "to measure". The Latin-derived word displaced it in Middle English, so the everyday sense of weighing one thing against another now belongs to a borrowed word rather than the native one.