- supplement
- supplement: see supply
- supplement (n.)
- late 14c., from Latin supplementum "that which fills up, that with which anything is made full or whole, something added to supply a deficiency," from supplere "to fill up" (see supply (v.)).
- supplement (v.)
- 1829, from supplement (n.). Compare Spanish suplementar. Related: Supplemented; supplementing.
- supplemental (adj.)
- c. 1600, from supplement (n.) + -al (1). Related: Supplementally. Generally "added to supply what is wanted," whereas supplementary historically tends toward "added as something secondary or supernumerary."
- supplementary (adj.)
- 1660s, "added as something extra," from supplement (n.) + -ary. Suppletory in the same sense is from 1620s.