Etymologically
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buzzer

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 17:14. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbʌzə/[1]
  • US: /ˈbʌzɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English buzz + -er, an agent noun from the verb,[2][3][4][5] which is imitative of the sound of bees and other insects.[3] The OED derives the slang buzzer, a pickpocket, from buzz in the slang sense to pick pockets.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who spreads tales in secret, a whisperer: 1604, in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "wants not buzzers to infest his ear".[2][4][6] The sense is now obsolete.[2]

Semantic evolution

From 1606 the word was used of a buzzing insect,[2][4] which Etymonline gives as its first sense, about 1600.[3] Johnson (1755) knew only the Shakespearean "secret whisperer".[6] In the 1870s it was applied in Britain to the steam whistles that called workers into factories and dismissed them;[3][2] from the early 1880s it was applied to electric devices that make a buzzing sound as a signal: the trembler of an induction coil (1882) and an electric call or alarm (1884).[2][3] Services' slang called a signaller a buzzer (1915).[2] From 1934, first in American use, a doorbell was also a buzzer.[2] Various machines that buzz as they work, such as a polishing wheel or a circular saw, were given the name from 1884.[2] In slang the word has meant a pickpocket (from 1791 in Green's dictionary),[7][2] a car (early 20th century) and a detective's badge, and by metonymy a detective (1891, American).[7] In West Yorkshire dialect a buzzer was a centrifugal machine for drying cloth.[8] In New Zealand it is also a wood-planing machine.[9]

Timeline

  • 1604 – a whisperer of tales, in Shakespeare's Hamlet (now obsolete).[2][4]
  • 1606 – an insect that buzzes.[2]
  • 1791 – slang, a pickpocket.[7]
  • 1870 – a steam whistle used as a signal.[2]
  • 1882 – the trembler of an induction coil.[2]
  • 1884 – an electric device that makes a buzzing sound as a signal; a machine that buzzes, such as a circular saw.[2]
  • 1915 – services' slang, a signaller.[2]
  • 1934 – a doorbell, originally in American use.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An electric signal device that makes a buzzing sound, used like a bell: Press the buzzer when you know the answer.[9][10][2]
  2. The sound made by such a device.[10]
  3. A person or thing that buzzes, especially an insect.[9][2]
  4. A doorbell.[2]
  5. (New Zealand) A wood-planing machine.[9]
  6. (obsolete) A person who spreads gossip or tales in secret.[2][4][6]

Word family

  • joy buzzer

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 t u v 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. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster