Consignor is from consign + -or, from French consigner, from Latin consignare ('to seal, attest'), from con- ('together') + signare ('to mark, sign'), from signum ('mark, sign'). The ancestry passes through Latin consignare and Latin signum. The prefix con- adds togetherness, combination, or intensification where the Latin formation gives it that value, helping to explain the word's surface structure; the suffix -or marks an agent or doer, so the English form is shaped by recognizable word formation as well as by its inherited or borrowed base. In present use as a noun, it means "the person or party who sends goods to another in a shipment", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include consign, consignment, consignee, and sign.