The prefix ‘con’ generally means ‘with’ or ‘together’. It comes from Latin, where ‘con’ is derived from ‘cum’, which also translates to ‘with’. In English, we see it in words like ‘connect’, ‘coordinate’, and ‘convene’, all of which imply a sense of coming together or being alongside something.
While the prefix can sometimes lead to confusion, as in certain contexts it might seem to suggest an action of catching (particularly in terms such as ‘con artist’ where ‘con’ refers to being duped or tricked), its primary and more common usage aligns with the meaning of ‘with’. Therefore, in the vast majority of applications, it is safe to say that ‘con’ means ‘with’ rather than ‘catching’.