subsidiary

C2+ Topic:Word Formation & Derivatives

US /səbˈsɪdiɛri/ UK /səbˈsɪdiəri/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a company controlled by another; of secondary importance

The bank operates several subsidiaries across Asia.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a company controlled by... auxiliary ancillary supplementary secondary subordinate affiliate branch

Opposites

primary principal main parent

Word family

Derived forms subsidiarilysubsidiarity

Related forms subsidy subsidize reside preside

Etymology

From Latin subsidiārius ('serving as reserve, auxiliary'), from subsidium ('support, reserve troops, help'), from sub- ('under, behind') + sedēre ('to sit').

sub Latin sedēre Latin *sed- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Word Formation & Derivatives General Vocabulary

External links

# subsidiary

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /səbˈsɪdiɛri/
**IPA (UK):** /səbˈsɪdiəri/

## Meanings
1. a company controlled by another; of secondary importance

## Examples
- The bank operates several subsidiaries across Asia.

## Synonyms
- auxiliary
- ancillary
- supplementary
- secondary
- subordinate
- affiliate
- branch

## Antonyms
- primary
- principal
- main
- parent

## Derived Forms
- subsidiarily
- subsidiarity

## Related Forms
- subsidy
- subsidize
- reside
- preside

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sub
- Root: sedēre
- Root: *sed-

## Etymology
From Latin subsidiārius ('serving as reserve, auxiliary'), from subsidium ('support, reserve troops, help'), from sub- ('under, behind') + sedēre ('to sit').

## AI Etymology
Subsidiary comes from Latin subsidiārius ('serving as reserve, auxiliary'), from subsidium ('support, reserve troops, help'), from sub- ('under, behind') + sedēre ('to sit'). The historical chain includes Latin sub, Latin sedēre, and Proto-Indo-European *sed-. The quoted older senses, "serving as reserve, auxiliary", "support, reserve troops, help", "under, behind", and "to sit", supply the semantic anchors for subsidiary. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word subsidiary carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a company controlled by another; of secondary importance". English derivatives include subsidiarily and subsidiarity; related English forms include subsidy, subsidize, reside, and preside. The result is a noun and adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- General Vocabulary

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