convent [ME] Convent was originally spelled covent, a spelling that survives in the London place name Covent Garden. The word came into English via Old French from Latin conventus ‘an assembly or company’, based on convenire ‘to come together’. Convene [LME], ‘to call people together for a meeting’, has the same origin; as does convenient [LME] ‘assembling or agreeing’; coven [M17th] ‘gathering of witches’; and covenant [ME] ‘an agreement’.