According to the OED<\/em>, complementary<\/em> means \u201ccombining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize the qualities of each other or another.\u201d At www.dictionary.com<\/a>, we find simply \u201cforming a complement; completing,\u201d but then there\u2019s a link to complement<\/em>. The website gives us three definitions for complement: \u201c1. Something that completes or makes perfect\u201d; \u201c2. The quantity or amount that completes anything\u201d; and \u201c3 .Either of two parts or things needed to complete the whole; counterpart.\u201d<\/p>\n The etymology of complementary<\/em> tells us that in the 1620s the word meant ceremonious \u201cformally or elaborately polite.\u201d According to www.etymonline.com<\/a>, the \u201cSense of \u2018forming a complement, mutually completing each other’s deficiencies,\u2019 is attested by 1794, in reference to the calendar of the French Revolution; in reference to colors which in combination produce white light, by 1814.\u201d There was an earlier word complemental<\/em>, but it is now pretty much obsolete (it has a red, squiggly line under it in my Word document).<\/p>\n Of course, what might be more helpful is the etymology of complement, so here it is from www.etymonline.com<\/a>: \u201clate 14c., \u2018means of completing; that which completes; what is needed to complete or fill up,\u2019 from Old French\u00a0compliement<\/em>\u00a0\u2018accomplishment, fulfillment\u2019 (14c., Modern French\u00a0compl\u00e9ment<\/em>), from Latin\u00a0complementum<\/em>\u00a0\u2018that which fills up or completes,\u2019 from\u00a0complere<\/em>\u00a0\u2018fill up,\u2019 from\u00a0com-<\/em>, here probably as an intensive prefix (see\u00a0com-<\/strong><\/a>), +\u00a0plere<\/em>\u00a0\u2018to fill\u2019 (from PIE root\u00a0*pele-<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(1) \u2018to fill\u2019).\u201d The com-<\/em> prefix usually means \u201cwith,\u201d though sometimes Latin prefixes are used for emphasis, to mean something like completely or thoroughly; if that is the case with complementum, the word means something like \u201cto fill completely.\u201d<\/p>\n Complement<\/em> should not be confused with compliment<\/em> \u201can expression of praise, commendation, or admiration\u201d or \u201cto show kindness or regard for by a gift or other favor.\u201d Interestingly, however, the two words have the same root in the Latin word complementum<\/em>, though compliment<\/em> comes into English through the French compliment from \u201cItalian complimento<\/em>\u00a0“expression of respect and civility,” from\u00a0complire<\/em>\u00a0“to fill up, finish, suit, compliment,” from Vulgar Latin\u00a0*complire<\/em>,\u201d according to www.etymonline.com<\/a>. Dictionary.com says that it actually came \u201ccame to English from the Spanish\u00a0cumplimiento<\/em>, by way of Italian and French,\u201d in the 1600s.<\/p>\n So we have two words that are pronounced virtually the same (language nerds like me might make the effort to emphasize the \/\u025b\/ in complement<\/em> and the \/\u026a\/ in compliment<\/em>) and derive from the same Latin word complementum<\/em>, but they mean quite different things. So what happened? Well, one of the processes by which languages change is called specialization (or restriction or narrowing), where a word, for some reason or another, means something much more specific than it used to mean. For example, we have an old idiom \u201cmeat and drink.\u201d Why \u201cmeat and drink\u201d? Why not \u201cfood and drink\u201d? Because meat<\/em> used to mean \u201cfood\u201d but has become specialized now to mean a particular kind of food (unless that is your \u201csignificant other\u201d telling you to stop eating meat because they want you to starve to death). So when compliment entered the English language, there was already a word filling the slot meaning \u201cto make something complete\u201d; we didn\u2019t need a virtual homophone to mean the same thing, so its meaning was slightly altered.<\/p>\n I was at a hotel some years ago. Above the check-in counter was a sign that read, \u201cEnjoy our complimentary breakfast.\u201d When I said something to the clerk about the sign, he insisted that it was correct. I did not explain to him about my Ph.D. in English. Sadly, the next morning, when I went down to the lobby to get something to eat, the breakfast was very quiet. Perhaps it was just me.<\/p>\n A solitary guy was sitting in a bar when he heard a voice say, \u201cYou sure are a handsome looking fellow.\u201d He looked around, but the only other person in the bar was the bartender, down at the other end of the bar cleaning glasses. Then he heard the voice again: \u201cYou\u2019re the kind of guy a girl wants to take home to meet her momma.\u201d Again, he couldn\u2019t see anybody.<\/p>\n Then he said to the barkeeper, \u201cAre you talking to me?\u201d<\/p>\n The bartender said no, but the fellow heard the voice again: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind taking you home right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, he demanded of the barkeeper an explanation: \u201cWho keeps saying things to me, like I\u2019m good looking, and other things?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh,\u201d said the bartender, \u201cthat must be our complimentary peanuts.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This image was originally posted to\u00a0Flickr<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0by vastateparksstaff at\u00a0https:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/37922399@N05\/16207730152<\/a>. It was reviewed on\u00a026 May 2016\u00a0by\u00a0FlickreviewR<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.<\/p>\n The sad thing is that you can\u2019t hear what the sunset is saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paul Schleifer According to the OED, complementary means \u201ccombining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize the qualities of each other or another.\u201d At www.dictionary.com, we find simply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3053,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051\/revisions\/3053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}