backpack

Etymology

It is a compound from English back + pack, formed in American English.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier rucksack.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pack carried on the back, by a person or by a horse or other animal, typically holding supplies and equipment: 1896, in the Adams County Free Press of Corning, Iowa.^[2] Merriam-Webster gives 1897 for the noun,^[4] Etymonline 1904,^[3] and Dictionary.com dates it to 1910–15 and calls it an Americanism.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb appears in the same Iowa newspaper in 1896, both for carrying something in a backpack and for hiking with one's supplies on one's back;^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1899^[4] and Etymonline to 1916.^[3] The noun was soon applied to other things carried on the back with shoulder straps: a parachute pack from 1920,^[2][6] and, since 1948, equipment such as a radio or fire extinguisher designed to be worn this way.^[2][4] The OED notes that the verb is now often used of travelling cheaply as a form of tourism,^[2] the sense of backpacking and backpacker.^[2][3] In late 20th-century American Black slang, backpack as an adjective meant second-rate or unfashionable.^[7]

Timeline

• 1896 – noun, a pack carried on the back; verb, to carry in a backpack and to hike with one.^[2]
• 1897 – Merriam-Webster's date for the noun.^[4]
• 1920 – a parachute pack.^[2]
• 1940 – verb, to travel along a route carrying one's supplies in a backpack (chiefly North American).^[2]
• 1948 – equipment designed to be carried on the back.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A bag with shoulder straps, carried on the back, used by walkers, travellers and students; a rucksack or knapsack.
2. A piece of equipment, such as a radio or parachute, made to be carried on the back.

Verb

1. To hike or travel carrying one's belongings in a backpack, especially cheaply: They backpacked through Chile for a year.
2. To carry something in a backpack, especially over rough country.

Word family

• backpacker
• backpacking

Related words

• back
• pack
• rucksack
• knapsack
• haversack

References

1. ^ 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 d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com