From Middle English companye, from Old French compaignie (Modern French: compagnie), possibly from Late Latin , but this word is not attested.

Displaced native Old English werod, gefer, getæl, and hired.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈkʌmp(ə)ni/
• (America) IPA: /ˈkʌmpəni/

company

1. A team; a group of people who work together professionally.
   1. A group of individuals who work together for a common purpose.

      a company of actors

   2. (military) A unit of approximately sixty to one hundred and twenty soldiers, typically consisting of two or three platoons and forming part of a battalion.

      the boys in Company C

      • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 30, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC ↗:

        It was by his order the shattered leading company flung itself into the houses when the Sin Verguenza were met by an enfilading volley as they reeled into the calle.

   3. A unit of firefighters and their equipment.

      It took six companies to put out the fire.

   4. (nautical) The entire crew of a ship.
   5. (espionage, informal) An intelligence service.

      As he had worked for the CIA for over 30 years, he would soon take retirement from the company.

2. A small group of birds or animals.
3. (legal) An entity having legal personality, and thus able to own property and to sue and be sued in its own name; a corporation.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:enterprise

4. (business) Any business, whether incorporated or not, that manufactures or sells products (also known as goods), or provides services as a commercial venture.
5. (uncountable) Social visitors or companions.

   Keep the house clean; I have company coming.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC ↗:

     The departure was not unduly prolonged. In the road Mr. Love and the driver favoured the company with a brief chanty running. “Got it?—No, I ain't, 'old on,—Got it? Got it?—No, 'old on sir.”

6. (uncountable) Companionship.

   I treasure your company.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗, page 2 ↗:

     He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.

• (in legal context, a corporation) corporation
• (group of individuals with a common purpose) association, companionship, fellowship, organization, society
• (companionship) fellowship, friendship, mateship

• accompany
• companion
• discompany

• French: société, entreprise, firme, compagnie
• German: Gesellschaft, Firma, Unternehmen
• Italian: azienda, impresa, compagnia
• Portuguese: companhia
• Russian: компа́ния
• Spanish: empresa

• Portuguese: companhia, empresa
• Russian: компа́ния

• French: compagnie
• German: Gesellschaft
• Portuguese: companhia
• Russian: компа́ния
• Spanish: compañía

• French: compagnie
• German: Besuch, Besucher
• Portuguese: visita
• Russian: компа́ния

• French: compagnie
• German: Gesellschaft
• Portuguese: companhia
• Russian: компа́ния
• Spanish: compañía, compaña

• German: Kompanie
• Italian: compagnia
• Portuguese: companhia
• Russian: ро́та
• Spanish: compañía

• Portuguese: companhia

company (companies, present participle companying; simple past and past participle companied)

1. (archaic, transitive) To accompany, keep company with.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC ↗, Acts x:[28], folio clxix, recto ↗:

     Ye dooe knowe howe thatt hytt ys an vnlawefull thynge for a man beynge a iewe to company or come vnto an alient […] .

2. (archaic, intransitive) To associate.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Acts 1:21 ↗:

     Men which have companied with us all the time.

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be a lively, cheerful companion.
   • 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC ↗:

     If thee list unto the Court to throng
     […] there thou needs must learne, to laugh, to lie,
     To face, to forge, to scoffe, to companie.

4. (obsolete, intransitive) To have sexual intercourse.
   • a. 1656, Joseph Hall, Epistle to Mr. I. F.:

     companying with Infidels may not be simply condemned

• (to accompany) attend, escort, go with
• (to have sexual intercourse) fornicate, have sex, make love; see also Thesaurus:copulate