What does compo mean?
Compo is an informal British and Australian clipping of the word 'compensation'. It most commonly refers to money awarded to people who have been injured at work, made redundant, or otherwise wronged — as when a union secures full compo for injured members, or a worker lives on compo while unable to return to their job. The word carries a colloquial, sometimes faintly wry connotation, since being 'on the compo' can imply idleness as well as legitimate entitlement. Beyond its dominant financial sense, compo has older specialist uses: in military slang it denoted composite field rations, and in the building trades it names certain composition materials such as fibrous plaster. Like many clippings, it arose through everyday speech rather than formal coinage, drawing on the Latin root of 'compose' and 'composition'. For learners, compo is worth knowing chiefly as a marker of informal Antipodean and British register, where it appears constantly in news reports about industrial accidents, insurance claims, and compensation disputes.
nounCompensation, especially compensation payments made to workers for injury or loss of employment; more broadly, any payment or benefit received as recompense.
- Informal short form of 'compensation', especially money paid to someone injured at work or made redundant (chiefly British and Australian).
- A blended or mixed substance; in British military use, 'compo' referred to composed/composite field rations, and in building trade use it can denote a composition material such as fibrous plaster.
"After the accident at the factory, he lived on compo for nearly two years."
"The union fought hard to secure full compo for the injured miners."
"The old soldiers still spoke fondly of the tinned compo rations from their army days."
Rarely pluralized in ordinary use; the plural applies mainly to multiple payouts or to the historical ration packs.
"The firm issued several compos over the years for workplace injuries."
In Britain and Australia, 'on the compo' can mean living comfortably off an injury payout — a word that started as army slang for stewed rations before finding its fortune in compensation claims.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of compo
Compo originated as a colloquial clipping of 'compensation' in British English, probably in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, and became especially widespread in Australia in connection with workers' compensation schemes. The underlying root is the Latin 'componere', meaning 'to put together', which also gives English compose, composite, and component. A parallel clipping produced the military term for 'composed rations' — tinned composite food packs used by British forces — and the building-trade sense for composition plaster. All these senses share the idea of elements brought together into one whole.
How compo is actually used
Register is distinctly informal, colloquial, and largely restricted to British, Irish, and Australian English; it would sound out of place in formal writing or in North American English, where 'workers' comp' serves a similar function. The ration sense is now mostly historical or nostalgic.
Easily confused with compo
"Combo" is a combination or set of items (often in music or fast food), while "compo" refers to compensation or a blended mixture.
"Composer" is a person who writes music; "compo" is a clipped form meaning compensation or a composite material.