cargo

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɑːɡəʊ/ (UK); /ˈkɑɹɡoʊ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cargo (“load, burden”), also carga,^[2][3][4] from cargar (“to load”), from Late Latin carricare (“to load on a cart”), from carrus (“wagon”) (see car).^[2][3][5] The French cognate gave English charge.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The freight of a ship: 1657.^[2][7][4]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that the Middle English word for a ship's load was charge.^[2] An obsolete use as a bill of lading is from 1678.^[7] The goods carried by an aircraft or other vehicle are a later extension.^[8][9] The cargo cult of the South Pacific is from 1949,^[3] and cargo pants, named after the large military pockets, from 1977.^[3] An unrelated cargo was a term of contempt (1602).^[7]

Timeline

• 1657 – a ship's freight.^[2][7]
• 1678 – a bill of lading (obsolete).^[7]
• 1949 – cargo cult.^[3]
• 1977 – cargo pants.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Goods carried by a ship, aircraft or vehicle; freight.

Word family

• cargo cult
• cargo liner
• air cargo
• cargo pants

Related words

• car
• charge
• carry
• cark
• career

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin