comprehend

English

Etymology

From Middle English comprehenden, from Latin comprehendere (“to grasp”), from the prefix com- + prehendere (“to seize”). Doublet of comprend.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /kɒmpɹɪˈhɛnd/
(US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnd/
- Audio (US): (file)
(General Australian) IPA^(key): /kɔmpɹɪˈhend/
Rhymes: -ɛnd

Verb

comprehend (third-person singular simple present comprehends, present participle comprehending, simple past and past participle comprehended)

(transitive) To understand or grasp fully and thoroughly; to plumb. [from 14th c.]
Synonym: see

I just can't comprehend how someone could be a butcher and vegetarian at the same time.
- c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
  Our ſoules, whoſe faculties can comprehend
  The wondrous Architecture of the world:
  And meaſure euery wandring planets courſe,
  Still climing after knowledge infinite, […]
(now rare) To include, comprise; to contain. [from 14th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  And lothly mouth, unmeete a mouth to bee, / That nought but gall and venim comprehended […].
- 1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Penguin, published 2009, page 9:
  In the second century of the Christian Æra, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

to understand

Bulgarian: разбирам (bg) (razbiram), схващам (bg) (shvaštam)
Catalan: comprendre (ca)
Czech: rozumět (cs) impf
Dutch: bevatten (nl), doorgronden (nl)
Esperanto: kompreni
Estonian: mõistma (et), aru saama (et), hoomama
Finnish: ymmärtää (fi), käsittää (fi), tajuta (fi)
French: comprendre (fr)
Friulian: capî
German: begreifen (de), einsehen (de)
Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fraþjan)
Greek: κατανοώ (el) (katanoó)
Hungarian: megért (hu), ért (hu)
Icelandic: fatta
Irish: tuig
Italian: comprendere (it), capire (it)
Japanese: 解る (ja) (wakaru), 理解する (ja) (rikai suru)
Konkani: कळचे (kaḷce)
Latin: intellegō (la), capiō (la), videō (la)
Lithuanian: suvokti (lt)
Malagasy: mahazo (mg)
Maori: whēiro, whēiroiro, whekori, orotau
Norwegian: fatte (no), forstå (no)
Old English: understandan (West Saxon), ongietan (West Saxon), forstandan, gecnawan, gewitan, ymbfon
Ottoman Turkish: آڭلامق (anlamak)
Polish: pojmować (pl) impf, pojąć (pl) pf
Portuguese: compreender (pt)
Quechua: aypay
Romanian: înțelege (ro)
Russian: понима́ть (ru) (ponimátʹ), постигать (ru) (postigatʹ), осознать (ru) pf (osoznatʹ)
Sardinian: cumprèndhere
Sicilian: cumprènniri, capiri (scn)
Spanish: comprender (es), comprehender (disused), percanzar (disused), diquelar (es) (vernacular, rare)
Swedish: inse (sv)
Turkish: idrak etmek (tr), kavramak (tr), anlamak (tr)
Vietnamese: thấu hiểu (vi)
Welsh: deall (cy)
Zulu: -qonda, -bona

to include, contain

Bulgarian: обхва́щам (bg) (obhváštam), побирам (bg) (pobiram)
Czech: zahrnovat (cs) impf, obsahovat (cs) impf
Finnish: käsittää (fi), sisältää (fi)
French: comprendre (fr)
German: umfassen (de)
Greek: περιλαμβάνω (el) (perilamváno)
Italian: comprendere (it)
Latin: capiō (la)
Norwegian: dekke (no)
Polish: obejmować (pl) impf, objąć (pl) pf
Portuguese: compreender (pt)
Romanian: cuprinde (ro)
Russian: покрыва́ть (ru) (pokryvátʹ)
Spanish: comprender (es)
Swedish: omfatta (sv)

French

Verb

comprehend

third-person singular present indicative of comprehendre