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alternator

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Etymology and origin of the English word alternator

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1829 Register of Arts and Sciences More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origins
Proto-Italic *al-tero-Latin -nusProto-Indo-European *-ōAnglo-Norman -our
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin alter
Catalan altre
French autre
Italian altro
Spanish otro
Latin alternus
Latin alternō
Latin alternātus
English alternate
English alternator
From the same root
Latin adulterō ← alter
Latin alterātiō ← alter
Latin altercor ← alter
Latin alterō ← alter
Latin alteruter ← alter
French autrefois ← autre
French autrement ← autre
Latin alternis ← alternus
Latin alternātiō ← alternō
Latin alternātīvus ← alternātus

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɔːltəneɪtə(r)/[1]
  • US: /ˈɔːltɚneɪt̬ɚ/, /ˈɑːltɚneɪt̬ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English alternate + -or,[2][3][4] an agent noun in Latin form from the verb.[5] Alternate is from Latin alternātus, the past participle of alternō (“to do one thing and then another, do by turns”), from alternus (“one after the other, in turns”), from alter (“the other”).[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In mechanics, a part of a machine that makes two complementary movements happen by turns: 1829, in the Register of Arts and Sciences.[2]

Semantic evolution

The mechanical sense lasted only until about 1849.[2] In 1836 Edward William Lane used the word for a person who alternates, or who makes something alternate, a sense the Shorter Oxford marks as rare.[2][3] The current meaning, a generator of alternating current, appears in 1878 in The Lancet;[2][5][6] in later use it is especially the small generator driven by a car's engine.[2]

Timeline

  • 1829 – a machine part that causes two actions to occur alternately (obsolete by 1849).[2]
  • 1836 – a person who alternates, or who causes alternation.[2]
  • 1878 – an electric generator producing alternating current.[2][5][6] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1890–95.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An electric generator that produces alternating current, especially the one driven by the engine of a motor vehicle.[6][7][2]
  2. (rare) A person who alternates, or who causes something to alternate.[3][2]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Alternator.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/alternator. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·