To combine is to bring two or more things together so that they form a single unit, group, or result. It can refer to physical things, ideas, or actions.
From Latin *combinare* “to unite, yoke together,” from *com-* “together” + *bini* “two by two.” The sense moved from literally yoking things together to any kind of joining or mixing.
The root idea of “combine” is pairing—literally putting things in twos—then extending that to bigger groups. Even in chemistry, when we say substances combine, we’re echoing this ancient idea of ‘yoking’ particles together.
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