Compleat

Compleat is an archaic or stylistic spelling of the adjective complete. In Early Modern English, the form with an -e in -eat was common in titles and printed works, used to convey fullness or thoroughness. By the 19th century it fell out of standard usage, though it persists in historical contexts and as a deliberate archaism in modern publishing or branding.

The most famous example of the Compleat spelling is The Compleat Angler, a fishing treatise by Izaak Walton first published in 1653. The work combines practical instruction with reflections on nature, leisure, and virtue, and it has had a lasting influence on English literature and the culture of angling. The use of Compleat in the title helped popularize the orthographic variant, which is now recognized as an anachronism outside of historical editions.

Other titles from the same era occasionally employed the same form, as printers and authors used archaic spellings to evoke antiquity, authority, or a sense of comprehensive instruction. In contemporary writing, Compleat is typically encountered only as a stylistic nod to the past or in references to Walton’s Angler. In everyday modern English, complete remains the standard form for the adjective.

See also: The Compleat Angler.