congeries

Did You Know?

What do "epitome," "circus," "tribunal," and "congeries" have in common? All are part of a relatively small collection of English nouns that made the transition from Latin to English unaltered in both spelling and meaning. "Congeries" joined this group in our language in the early 1600s. Latin congeries comes from the Latin verb congerere, which means "to carry or bring together" and which is also the source of our word congest. In English, "congeries" stands out because it is a singular word with a plural appearance - and its plural is also spelled "congeries."