Other forms: combinations
A combination is two or more things put together, and also the thing you get by putting them together. Rain and wind in combination that takes the umbrella out of your hand; onion, carrot and celery, the combination half the world's soups start from.
It nearly always takes OF: a combination of luck and hard work. The lock kind is a combination as well — the three numbers you dial into a padlock, hence combination lock. In chess a combination is a forced run of moves where every reply is already answered and something is won at the end; the point is that the moves work as one piece rather than as a list. Mathematics uses it for a choice in which the order does not matter, which is why a combination lock is, strictly speaking, a permutation lock. The verb behind all of it is combine, and combine takes WITH: combine the flour with the eggs.
1nounmixtureA joining of two or more things, or the result of joining them.
“The dish is a combination of chilli, lime and sugar.”
2nounsequenceThe sequence of numbers or letters that opens a lock.
“Nobody could remember the combination to the safe.”
3nouncombinationIn chess, a forced series of moves that work together towards one gain.
“She found a combination that won a rook in four moves.”
4nounmathematicsIn mathematics, a selection of items in which the order does not matter.
“There are ten combinations of two drawn from a group of five.”
5nounquickA quick series of punches thrown one after another in boxing.
“He landed a combination and stepped back out of range.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Combination came through Middle English combinacioun and Old French from Latin combīnātiō. The root underneath it is the Proto-Indo-European word for two, so combining started life as putting things together two at a time. The English verb combine and the ending -ation are the two visible halves of the word.
Proto-Indo-European
*dwóh₁
Middle English
combinacioun
English, today
combination
From Middle English combinacioun. From Middle English combinacioun, combynacyoun, from Old French combination, from Latin combīnātiō. Morphologically combine + ation.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA