accommodate [E16th] The source of accommodate is Latin accommodare ‘make fitting, fit one thing to another’, formed from commodus ‘fit’. It came into English with the basic Latin sense, and through the idea of finding something that fitted someone’s needs, had developed the sense of ‘provide lodgings for’ by the late 16th century. Latin commodus is also the base of commode [L16th] something ‘fit, convenient’, and originally used of a headdress and of a chest of drawers before becoming a seat containing a chamber pot in the early 19th century, and of commodity [LME] originally something useful.