Etymologically
Log in

converter

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /kənˈvɜːtə/[1]
  • US: /kənˈvɜɹtɜɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English convert + -er.[2][3][4][5] The verb convert came through Old French convertir from Latin convertō (“to turn around, transform”), from com- and vertō (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).[4] Collins also gives the spelling “convertor”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who turns one thing into another, or turns a thing to another use or to their own use: 1533, in Tyndale.[2][7] Etymonline dates the word to the 1530s in the sense "one who makes converts",[4] which the OED records from 1576.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first named people: those who change one thing into another and those who win others over to a faith or party,[2][3] the sense Johnson (1755) gave as its only meaning.[8] From 1811 it was a trade name for those who converted rough timber, or iron into steel.[2] From 1867 it named the large lined vessel in which molten iron is turned into steel,[2][4] and in the late 1880s apparatus in general and electrical devices that change one kind of current into another.[2] The 20th century added a cipher machine (1942, US), a computing device (1950) and a reactor that turns fertile material into fissile material (1953).[2] In law, a converter is one who wrongfully takes or disposes of another's property.[9]

Timeline

  • 1533 – a person who converts one thing into another.[2][7]
  • 1576 – a person who makes converts.[2]
  • 1811 – a worker who converts timber, or iron into steel.[2]
  • 1867 – a vessel for making steel.[2][4]
  • 1888 – an electrical device that changes current.[2]
  • 1889 – an apparatus for converting one thing into another.[2]
  • 1950 – in computing.[2]
  • 1953 – a converter reactor.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that converts something.[6][7][2]
  2. A device that changes alternating current to direct current or the reverse, or that changes a signal from one frequency to another or from analogue to digital form.[6][2]
  3. A vessel in which molten metal is refined by a blast of air or oxygen, as in the Bessemer process.[6][2][7]
  4. A worker or machine that performs a step in turning materials into a manufactured product.[7][2]
  5. A converter reactor, a nuclear reactor that turns fertile material into fissile material.[6][2]
  6. A person who makes converts to a faith or opinion.[2][8]
  7. (law) A person who wrongfully keeps or disposes of another's property.[9]

Word family

  • teleconverter
  • torque converter
  • Bessemer converter
  • catalytic converter

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 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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West