compline

Compline is the English name for the last office of the day in Western Christian tradition. The word traces to Latin completorium, a term built from complere, "to complete." In the early monasteries of late antiquity, the office closed the cycle of daily prayer. Its name announced the completion of the day's hours.

Late Latin completorium appears in monastic usage by the early Middle Ages. The practice is associated with the Rule of Saint Benedict, written around 530, which formalized the nightly office. The Latin term marked the service that completed the day's worship. The word traveled with the Benedictine and later Latin liturgical traditions.

Old French adopted the term as complie in the twelfth century. That French form entered Middle English in the late fourteenth century, appearing in religious writing and service books. The spelling settled in Early Modern English as compline, reflecting learned Latin influence. The word kept its link to the end of the day.

In English today, compline names the evening prayer said before sleep. It is used in churches and in private devotion, with a fixed structure and psalms. The word still carries the sense of completion embedded in its Latin root. Its meaning remains tied to closing the day in prayer.