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jet

Etymology and origin of the English word jet

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Jet the black mineral and jet the stream or aircraft are unrelated words.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dʒet/[3]

jet1 black mineral

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1351
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman geet
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (γαγάτης)

Etymology

The mineral is Middle English gete, jeet, borrowed from Anglo-Norman geet, corresponding to Old French jaiet (modern French jais),[4][5][6] from Latin gagātēs, from Ancient Greek γαγάτης (gagátēs, “of Gagai”), short for gagátēs líthos, “stone of Gagai”,[4][6] from Gagai, a town and river in Lycia in Asia Minor.[4][5][6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The hard black mineral: 1351 in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline, before 1387 in the OED.[4][6][8]

Semantic evolution

It was formerly supposed to be magnetic.[6] Black marble was also called jet in the 15th century.[8] The colour of jet, a deep glossy black, is from the mid-15th century,[6][8] and the adjective, made of jet, from 1444,[4][8] with jet-black as a colour from 1716.[8] In old cant a jet was a lawyer, and an autem jet a clergyman, apparently from their black gowns (about 1700).[8] In Edinburgh dialect the jet-tribe were crows.[9]

Timeline

  • 1351 – the mineral.[4]
  • 1444 – made of jet.[4][8]
  • mid-15th century – a deep glossy black.[6][8]
  • c. 1700 – a lawyer, in cant.[8]
  • 1716 – jet-black.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A hard, dense black lignite that takes a high polish and is used in jewellery.
  2. A deep glossy black.

Adjective

  1. Made of jet, or deep black like it.

Word family

  • jet-black

jet2 stream; jet aircraft

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1692
Borrowed from
French jet
Ultimate origin
Latin (iacere)

Etymology

The stream is borrowed from French jet (“a throw, a cast; a gush, spurt”),[4][6][5] from jeter (“to throw, thrust”),[4][6][10] from Late Latin iectāre, abstracted from compounds such as dēiectāre and prōiectāre,[4][6] for Latin iactāre (“to toss about”), a frequentative of iacere (“to throw, cast”),[4][6][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *yeh₁- (“to throw, impel”).[6] jut is a variant of jet.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, to spout forth or gush out, is from 1692 in Barnhart, the 1690s in Etymonline;[4][6] the noun, a stream of water sent with force, from 1696.[4][6] An earlier verb, to project or encroach, is in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (1588),[4][5] and Middle English had jetten, to strut or swagger (about 1400).[6][10]

Semantic evolution

A spout or nozzle for emitting water, gas or fuel is from 1825,[6] which gave jet propulsion (1855, first of water) and, through the jet engine (1943), an aeroplane driven by jet propulsion (1944),[6][4] the first in service being the German Messerschmitt Me 262.[6] The atmospheric jet stream is from 1947, the jet set from 1951 and the jet age from 1952.[6] To travel by jet plane is American English from 1949.[4][10]

Timeline

  • 1588 – to project, in Shakespeare.[4]
  • 1692 – to gush out.[4]
  • 1696 – a stream of water.[4][6]
  • 1825 – a nozzle.[6]
  • 1944 – a jet aircraft.[6][4]
  • 1949 – to travel by jet.[4]
  • 1951 – jet set.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A fast, narrow stream of liquid or gas forced out of a small opening.
  2. A nozzle or outlet that emits such a stream.
  3. An aircraft driven by jet engines.
  4. (astronomy) A long narrow stream of matter ejected from a galaxy or star.

Verb

  1. To gush out in a jet.
  2. (informal) To travel by jet aircraft.

Word family

  • jet engine
  • jet lag
  • jet set
  • jet ski
  • jet stream
  • jetliner
  • jumbo jet

Usage notes

The SOED also records an archaic jet, a by-form of gist.[10] JET is also the Joint European Torus, a fusion research device in Oxfordshire.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Jet.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/jet. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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