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bootstrap

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Etymology and origin of the English word bootstrap

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1870 More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
Old French bote,estrop
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English boot
English bootstrap
From the same root
English bootleg ← boot
English reboot ← boot

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbuːtˌstɹæp/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English boot + strap.[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tab or loop at the top of a boot, pulled by the wearer to get the boot on: 1870 in Etymonline,[3] 1891 in the OED, which also records a strap holding down the skirt of a lady's riding habit.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1702,[6] and Dictionary.com the word to 1890–95.[5]

Semantic evolution

The phrase pull oneself up by one's bootstraps is recorded by 1871 in Etymonline[3] and in 1872 in the OED.[2] At first it described an impossible task: Steele's Popular Physics (1888) asked its readers why a man cannot lift himself by pulling up on his boot-straps.[3] It also came to mean bettering oneself by one's own unaided effort.[3][2][6] Engineers used the word for self-acting electrical circuits from 1946,[3][2] and in computing (1953) it named the short fixed sequence of instructions that loads the rest of a program, from the idea of the first program pulling itself and the rest up by its bootstraps;[3][2] boot, to start a computer, is short for it.[6][2] The verb, to improve something by using what is already there, followed in 1958, and in computing in 1962.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the adjective, relying on its own efforts or minimal resources, to 1926, and the verb to 1951.[6]

Timeline

  • 1870 – a loop at the back of a boot, used to pull it on.[3] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1891.[2]
  • 1871 – pull oneself up by one's bootstraps.[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1872, in the Chicago Tribune.[2]
  • 1946 – in electrical engineering, of a self-acting circuit.[3][2]
  • 1953 – in computing, a routine that loads the rest of a program.[3][2]
  • 1958 – verb, to improve or raise using existing resources.[2]
  • 1962 – verb, in computing, to boot.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A looped strap at the back or side of the top of a boot, for pulling it on.[6][2]
  2. bootstraps: one's own unaided efforts, especially in pull oneself up by one's bootstraps: He pulled himself up by his bootstraps after the factory closed.[6][2][4]
  3. (computing) A short routine of initial instructions that loads the rest of a program, especially the operating system.[6][2][3]

Adjective

  1. Carried out with minimal resources or by one's own efforts.[6]
  2. Of a process, self-generating or self-sustaining.[6]

Verb

  1. (computing) To boot a computer.[6][2]
  2. To develop or improve oneself or something by one's own initiative and existing resources, with little outside help.[6][2]

Word family

  • bootstrapper

References

  1. ^ 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 f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b 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 g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Bootstrap.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bootstrap. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·