commute

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The regular journey between your home and your workplace or school.

   My daily commute into the city takes about an hour.

2. 2
   verb

   To travel regularly between your home and your workplace or school.

   I commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan by bicycle.

3. 3
   verb

   To change a punishment to a less severe one.

   The judge commuted his sentence from death to life in prison.

Simplified etymology

Commute entered English in the late Middle English period and originally meant “to interchange two things.” Its source is Latin commutare, formed from com-, “together,” and mutare, “to change.” The modern travel sense developed from the American term commutation ticket, a season ticket in which several daily fares were changed into a single payment. This use of commute is recorded in America from the 1860s and reached Britain in the 1930s.

From commutation ticket, a pass on a railroad, streetcar line, etc. that permitted multiple rides over a period of time, eg, a month, for a single, commuted payment.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary