Other forms: associated, associates, associating
To associate is to connect one thing with another in the mind. Associate the smell with home, closely associated, associate with them.
The reflexive use is different and social — to associate with somebody is to keep their company, and it often carries a warning. As a noun an associate is a colleague or a junior partner. Note the Latin socius, a companion, which is also behind society.
1verbassociateTo connect one thing with another in the mind.
“Most people associate the smell of pine trees with Christmas.”
2nouncolleagueA colleague or junior partner.
“She discussed the case with her business associates over lunch.”
associate is a connecting.
Latin associare means to join to, from ad plus socius, a companion. Society and social come from the same companion.
Proto-Indo-European
*sekʷ-
Latin
associātus
Middle English
associat
English, today
associate
Built from
From Middle English associat (used participially as well as adjectively up to Early Modern English), from Latin associātus, the perfect passive participle of associō (“to join, unite”), from ad- + sociō, from socius + -ō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA