Other forms: commissioned, commissions, commissioning
Commission is the slice of each sale that goes to the person who made it happen. An estate agent takes a commission on the price of the house; a salesperson on commission has a small basic wage and lives off what they sell.
The word has three other lives. A commission is an official group set up to look into something — a commission of inquiry, the European Commission — and it reports at the end. Artists and architects work on commissions, meaning pieces of work ordered in advance: a commission to paint a portrait, and as a verb, the council commissioned a sculpture for the square. In the armed forces an officer holds a commission, the formal document that grants the rank. And a machine that is out of commission is broken or out of use.
1nouncommissionMoney paid to someone as a percentage of the sales they make.
“She earns a small salary plus commission on every policy she sells.”
2nounofficialAn official group appointed to investigate or report on something.
“A commission was set up to look into the accident.”
3nounartA formal order for a piece of work, especially a work of art.
“The portrait was a private commission.”
4verborderTo formally order and pay for a piece of work.
“The gallery commissioned three new pieces for the opening.”
5nounofficerThe official appointment that makes somebody an officer in the armed forces.
“He received his commission after a year at the military academy.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Latin commissio came from committo, built from com-, with, and mitto, to send. A commission was something sent out with a person: the authority they carried on the road. Both modern halves still fit — the officer's warrant and the agent's cut are each a job handed over to somebody to carry out.
Proto-Indo-European
*mey- (change)
Latin
commissiō — sending together; commission
Old French
commission
Middle English
commissioun
English, today
commission
Built from
From Middle English commissioun, from Old French commission, from Latin commissiō (“sending together; commission”), from committō + -tiō, from com- (“with”) + mittō (“to send”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA