As a noun, a compound is a thing made of two or more parts or, in chemistry, a substance of two or more elements joined together. As a verb, to compound means to make something worse by adding to it, or to mix things together.
From Latin 'componere' via Old French 'compondre', with the sense 'to put together'. The financial sense of 'compound interest' and the chemical sense both grow from this idea of combining.
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