Origin: Latin prefix sub-
Subcommittee has 2 different meanings across 1 category:
a subset of committee members organized for a specific purpose
"The finance subcommittee, formed to review the department's annual budget, will meet next Tuesday."
A committee formed by an existing committee, comprising a subset of its members.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee established a subcommittee to handle specific testimony from witnesses."
In plain English: A subcommittee is a smaller group of people chosen from a larger committee to handle specific tasks.
"The environmental subcommittee will meet next Tuesday to discuss recycling laws."
Usage: A subcommittee is a smaller group created within a larger committee to handle specific tasks or investigations. Use this term when referring to specialized divisions that report back to their parent organization rather than independent bodies.
The word is formed by combining the prefix sub- with committee to indicate a smaller group within a larger one. It entered English as a straightforward compound that directly describes its function of operating under a main committee.