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communicator

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Etymology and origin of the English word communicator

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1550 J. Hooper, Oversight Jonas More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Latin commūnicō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English communicate
English communicator

Pronunciation

  • UK: /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/[1]
  • US: /kəˈmjunɪkeɪtɚ/[1]

Etymology

The revised OED takes it as formed from English communicate + -or, after Late Latin commūnicātor (“partner, sharer, participant”), used in the Vulgate and by Tertullian.[2][3] Etymonline, Dictionary.com, Klein and Merriam-Webster derive it directly from the Late Latin agent noun,[4][5][6][7] formed from commūnicātus, past participle of commūnicō (“to share, impart, make common”),[6][7][4] which is related to commūnis (“common”), the source of common.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that communicates something: 1550, in J. Hooper's Oversight Jonas.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1660s and Dictionary.com to 1655–65; the Shorter Oxford gives the mid 17th century.[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the general sense of one who imparts or shares something.[2][4] In the 19th century it was applied to devices: the sending part of a telegraph (1840), now historical, and an apparatus for signalling the guard or driver of a train, such as a communication cord (1847), now rare.[2] Merriam-Webster adds the sense of a person who works with methods or devices of communication.[7]

Timeline

  • 1550 – a person or thing that communicates.[2]
  • 1840 – the transmitting part of a telegraph (now historical).[2]
  • 1847 – a device for signalling the guard or driver of a train.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that communicates something; often, someone judged by their skill at it: She is a gifted communicator.[7][2]
  2. A person who works with methods or devices of communication.[7]
  3. (historical) The sending part of a telegraph.[2]
  4. (rare) A device for signalling the guard or driver of a train; a communication cord.[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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Communicator.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/communicator. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·