Etymologically
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laboratory

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 04:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ləˈbɒr.ə.tər.i/, /ləˈbɒr.ə.tri/, US /ˈlæb.rə.tɔːr.i/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin labōrātōrium (“a place for labour or work”),[2][3][4][5] from Latin labōrātus, the past participle of labōrāre (“to work”) (see labor),[6][4][7] and the suffix -ōrium (see -ory).[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A building or room set apart for scientific experiments and investigation: 1605 in the OED and Barnhart;[8][2] about 1600 in Etymonline, and MWU dates its first known use to 1592.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century a laboratory was most often a chemist's or alchemist's workroom,[8] and figurative use, a place where something is worked out, is by the 1660s.[4][8] In the military, a department of an arsenal for making and testing ammunition is from 1716,[8] and in metallurgy the space between the fire and flue bridges of a reverberatory furnace from 1839.[8] The clipped form lab is from the 19th century.[3] The UK pronunciation stresses the second syllable and the US the first.[1][9]

Timeline

  • 1592 – first known use, according to MWU.[6]
  • 1605 – a building for scientific work.[8][2]
  • 1660s – figurative use.[4]
  • 1716 – an arsenal's ammunition department.[8]
  • 19th century – lab.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A room or building equipped for scientific experiments, research or teaching.
  2. A place where drugs or chemicals are made.
  3. A place for practice, observation or testing.
  4. A class period spent working in a laboratory.

Word family

  • laboratorial
  • laboratorially
  • laboratorian
  • interlaboratory
  • language laboratory
  • lab
  • labor
  • laborious
  • elaborate
  • collaborate

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins