Etymologically
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depot

Etymology and origin of the English word depot

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1794
Borrowed from
French dépôt
Ultimate origin
Latin (dēpōnō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdep.əʊ/, US /ˈdiː.poʊ/, /ˈdep.oʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French dépôt (“deposit, place of deposit”),[2][3][4] from Old French depost (“a deposit or pledge”),[2][3] from Latin dēpositum (“a deposit”), the neuter past participle of dēpōnō (“to lay aside, put down”).[2][3][5] It is a doublet of deposit.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of depositing, a now obsolete sense: 1794.[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

A warehouse or storehouse for goods is from 1795.[2][3][6][4] The earliest depots were military establishments for stores and for assembling recruits:[5] a fort for stores and ammunition, and the part of a regiment that stays at home, are from 1798,[6][3] and a place for holding prisoners of war from 1806.[6] A railway station, in American English, is attested by 1842.[3] In physiology a depot is a site where a substance such as fat accumulates (1835–6).[6]

Timeline

  • 1794 – the act of depositing.[2][6]
  • 1795 – a warehouse.[2][6]
  • 1798 – a military depot.[6][3]
  • 1806 – a prisoner-of-war depot.[6]
  • by 1842 – a railway station (US).[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A warehouse or storehouse.
  2. (military) A store for supplies, or a station for assembling and training recruits.
  3. (chiefly British) A building where buses or railway engines are kept and serviced.
  4. (US, Canada) A bus or railway station.

Adjective

  1. (medicine) Of a drug or dose, designed to be released gradually in the body.

Word family

  • subdepot

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Depot.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/depot. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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