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locomotion

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Etymology and origin of the English word locomotion

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1646 Sir T. Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica More words from the 17th century
Borrowed from
Latin locomotio
Ultimate origin
New Latin locomotio

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/[1]
  • US: /ˌloʊ.kəˈmoʊ.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

The revised OED takes it as borrowed from New Latin locomotio, recorded from 1633,[2] formed from locō (“from a place”), the ablative of locus (“place”), and mōtiō (“a moving”),[2][3][4][5][6] on the pattern of locomotivus, the source of locomotive.[2][7] Barnhart, Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the American Heritage Dictionary instead treat it as formed in English from the Latin locō and motion.[4][8][6] French has locomotion only from 1771.[2] Johnson (1755) explained it from locus and mōtus.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or power of moving from one place to another: 1646, in Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica.[4][2][8] Etymonline gives "action or power of motion" from the 1640s.[3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as the "power of changeing place" and quoted Browne: "All progression, or animal locomotion, is performed by drawing on... some part which was before at quiet".[9] From 1670 it was used of the movement of planets, vehicles and other things that do not move by themselves.[2] From 1759 it also meant a person's travel from place to place, especially by riding or in a conveyance.[2] Etymonline dates "movement from place to place" to 1788.[3] In 1962 the Gerry Goffin and Carole King song The Loco-Motion gave its name to a dance whose arm movements imitate the coupling rods of a locomotive.[2]

Timeline

  • 1646 – the power or act of a living thing moving from place to place.[2][4][8]
  • 1670 – the movement of a planet, vehicle or other inanimate thing.[2]
  • 1759 – travel from place to place, especially in a conveyance; a means of travel.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1788.[3]
  • 1962 – the locomotion, a popular dance, after the song The Loco-Motion.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act or power of moving from one place to another, as of an animal or organism: Snails use a muscular foot for locomotion.[8][10][2]
  2. Movement of a vehicle or other inanimate object from place to place.[2]
  3. Travel, or a means of travelling.[8][2]
  4. the locomotion: a dance of the 1960s with arm movements imitating the wheels of a locomotive.[2]

Word family

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Locomotion.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/locomotion. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·