Accomplice
/əˈkʌm.plɪs/noun
A person who helps another commit a crime or wrongdoing.
Did you know?Accomplice comes through Anglo-French from Latin *complicare*, meaning “to fold together,” so the word originally carried the eerie sense of being bound up with another person’s act.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
complicare
“to fold together, entwine”
Late Latin
Latin
complicem
“folded together; associated with another”
Old French
Old French
accomplice
“an associate or partner in an action, often a wrongful one”
14th Century
English
accomplice
“an associate, especially in crime”
Modern English
English
accomplice
“a person who helps another commit a crime or wrongdoing”
Explore more surprising origins