Content#
24 July 2022
content
(noun) The things that are held or included in something. [1]
Origin#
Late Middle English, from the medieval Latin contentum.
Example#
The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country, the Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country, the Times is read by people who actually do run the country, the Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country, the Financial Times is read by people who own the country, the Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country and the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is.
– BBC. “Yes, Prime Minister”.
Notes#
Content made its way into late Middle English from the medieval Latin contentum (plural contenta, meaning ‘things contained’), which is the neuter past participle of continere (from con- ‘altogether’ + tenere ‘to hold’). Thus, ‘content’ is not only some thing, it is also something that goes well together with some other thing. Gibberish isn’t content; twittering doesn’t produce content.