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broadcaster

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Etymology and origin of the English word broadcaster

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1814 Agricultural Magazine
Ultimate origin
English broadcast,-er
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English broadcast
English broadcaster

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbɹɔːdˌkɑːstə/, /-ˌkæstə/[1]
  • US: /ˈbɹɔdˌkæstɚ/, /ˈbɹɑd-/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English broadcast + -er.[2][3][4] The adjective broadcast comes from broad and the past participle of cast,[3] and first meant scattered widely, especially of seed sown by hand.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In farming, a machine for scattering seed or fertilizer; also, now obsolete, a person who sowed by hand, or someone who favoured that method over drilling: 1814, in the Agricultural Magazine.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The agricultural word was taken over when broadcast came to mean transmitting by radio.[5][3] In 1922 broadcaster appears in all three of its radio senses: the transmitting apparatus, in the New York Musical Courier, the station or company, in Wireless Age, and the person who speaks on the radio, in the Spokane Daily Chronicle.[2][6] Etymonline also dates the word to 1922,[3] and Random House to 1920–25.[4] In later use it has mainly meant a person who presents programmes on radio or television, especially news.[2]

Timeline

  • 1814 – a machine for sowing seed broadcast.[2]
  • 1922 – a broadcasting apparatus; a broadcasting station or company; a person who broadcasts.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who speaks or appears on radio or television, especially as a presenter: She worked as a sports broadcaster for twenty years.[2][7]
  2. An organization or station that broadcasts programmes.[7][2]
  3. An apparatus for transmitting radio or television programmes.[7][2]
  4. (agriculture) A machine that scatters seed or fertilizer over the ground.[7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  6. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Broadcaster.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/broadcaster. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·