Etymologically
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adapter

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈdæptə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /əˈdæptəɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English adapt + -er.[2][3][4][5] The verb adapt is from Middle French adapter (“to apply or adjust”) and Latin adaptō (“to make fit, modify”),[2][3] from ad- (“to”) and aptō (“to fit, join”), from aptus (“fitted”), the source of apt.[3][2] The spelling adaptor is recorded slightly later, from 1764.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A device for connecting pieces of equipment that would otherwise not fit together, in early use especially a short tube joining two pieces of glassware: 1753, in the Supplement to Chambers's Cyclopædia.[2][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1801, for a person who adapts something, and the mechanical sense to 1808, in chemistry apparatus.[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a person who adapts something, especially a writer who alters a text for the stage, broadcasting or film, is recorded from 1771.[2] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1795–1805.[5] An electrical fitting that lets more than one plug, or a plug of another type, be used with a socket is recorded from 1886 in the OED[2] and by 1907 in Etymonline.[3] From 1900 the word was also used of a person or thing that adapts to new conditions,[2] and in biochemistry from 1962 of the adapter molecule that carries an amino acid to the messenger RNA.[2]

Timeline

  • 1753 – a device for connecting incompatible pieces of apparatus.[2][6]
  • 1764 – the spelling adaptor.[2]
  • 1771 – a person who adapts a text.[2]
  • 1886 – an electrical fitting connecting plugs to a socket.[2]
  • 1900 – a person or thing that adapts to new conditions.[2]
  • 1962 – in biochemistry, an adapter molecule.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A device for connecting two pieces of equipment, or parts of different sizes, that would not otherwise fit together.[7][6][8][2]
  2. An electrical fitting that lets a plug of another type, or more than one plug, be used with a socket: She packed a travel adapter for the trip to Italy.[2][8]
  3. An attachment that fits a piece of apparatus, such as a camera, for a use it was not designed for.[6][8]
  4. A person who adapts something, especially a writer who reworks a novel or play for film, radio or television, or an arranger of music.[6][2]
  5. (computing) An expansion card.[7]
  6. A person or thing that adapts to new conditions.[2][8]

Usage notes

Adaptor is a less common spelling of the same word in American dictionaries.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers