Etymologically
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connector

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 12:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /kəˈnɛktɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English connect + -or,[2][3][4] as an agent noun in Latin form, which Etymonline finds usefully distinct from connecter.[4] The OED notes that the form is not of a Latin type, the noun in Latin being connexor, but that -or was preferred in the technical senses on the analogy of other terms in -or.[2] The verb connect comes from cōnectō (“to join together”), from com- (“together”) and nectō (“to bind, tie”), from Proto-Indo-European *ned- (“to bind, tie”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A device holding two parts of an electrical conductor in close contact: 1795, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, according to the OED;[2] Etymonline gives the 1795 sense as a tube for connecting other materials.[4]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, a person or thing that connects, is recorded from 1815,[2] and a small tube of india-rubber for joining glass tubes from 1839.[2] A railway coupling is also a connector,[2][6] and Merriam-Webster records the word for a worker who couples railway coaches and for a construction worker who guides and bolts steel girders as they are hoisted into place.[6] In anatomy it has been used attributively since 1916.[2] The SOED notes that connecter is used especially of a person.[7] In American underworld slang of 1928 a connector was a beggar.[8]

Timeline

  • 1795 – a device connecting two parts of an electrical conductor.[2]
  • 1815 – a person or thing that connects.[2]
  • 1839 – a tube for joining glass or other tubes.[2]
  • 1916 – attributive use in anatomy.[2]
  • 1928 – in American underworld slang, a beggar.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A device for joining electrical conductors, such as a plug fitting into a socket: The charger has a different connector from the old one.[7][2][6]
  2. A person or thing that connects.[6][2][7]
  3. A flexible tube for joining the ends of other tubes.[6][2]
  4. A railway coupling.[6][2]
  5. A construction worker who guides and bolts structural steel members as they are hoisted into place.[6]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com