What does compter mean?
Compter is an archaic English noun denoting a jail, particularly the small, notoriously unhealthy prisons once operated within the City of London, such as the Wood Street compter and the Poultry compter. Derived from the same Old French root that gave us 'count' and 'counter,' the word reflects the medieval practice of confining debtors near the places where their accounts were reckoned. In use from the Middle Ages into the nineteenth century, the compter was typically a place where debtors and petty offenders were held, often in wretched conditions; Dickens and other writers referenced such institutions to evoke civic neglect. Today the word survives mainly in historical scholarship and period literature, where it lends authenticity to descriptions of old London's penal landscape. Readers encountering 'compter' should resist reading it as a misspelling of 'computer'—its true meaning is far older and considerably grimmer.
nounAn obsolete term for a jail or prison, especially one of the small prisons formerly maintained in the City of London; also, by extension, a keeper of such a prison.
- A jail or prison, especially one of the former City of London prisons such as the Wood Street or Poultry compter.
- (Archaic) A keeper or inmate's term relating to such a prison; the officer in charge of a compter.
"The debtor was thrown into the Wood Street compter until his debts were settled."
"Refusing to pay, he was consigned to the compter on Wood Street."
"Dickens's readers would have known the Poultry compter as a byword for squalid confinement."
Standard pluralization applies; used when referring to several such prisons collectively.
"London once maintained several compters within the old city walls."
Compter looks like a typo of 'computer,' but centuries before silicon it named the grim little jails where London's debtors were locked away.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of compter
Compter comes from Old French 'comptoir' or related forms ultimately deriving from Latin 'computare,' meaning to reckon or count. It entered English through Anglo-Norman usage, originally connected with the counting-house or place of accounts, and came to denote the prisons attached to or associated with such municipal offices in London. Its modern English cousin is 'counter,' which preserves the same root in everyday use, while 'count,' 'account,' and 'recount' share the Latin ancestor.
How compter is actually used
Compter is archaic and appears almost exclusively in historical writing about early modern London or in literature set in that period. It should not be used in ordinary modern prose, where 'jail' or 'prison' is correct.
Easily confused with compter
Despite its modern-looking spelling, compter is an archaic word for a prison, not an electronic computing machine.
Counter is the standard modern form surviving from the same source, meaning a surface for transactions or one who counts, whereas compter survives only as a historical term for a jail.