missile

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪs.aɪl/, /ˈmɪs.(ə)l/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin missile (“a weapon that can be thrown”), the neuter of missilis, capable of being thrown,^[2][3][4] from missus, the past participle of mittere (“to send, throw”) (see mission),^[3][5][6] partly through French missile.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, capable of being thrown, chiefly in missile weapon: 1611 in the OED, the 1610s in Etymonline.^[7][3] The noun is from 1656, in Blount's Glossographia.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that the earliest missiles were gifts, such as sweets, thrown to crowds by Roman emperors.^[5] A thing thrown as a weapon, as a stone or arrow, is from the 1650s.^[3][5] A self-propelled rocket or bomb is first recorded in 1738,^[3] and modern rocket-propelled guided projectiles by 1945.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1611 – capable of being thrown.^[7]
• 1656 – a thrown weapon (noun).^[2][7]
• 1738 – a self-propelled rocket.^[3]
• 1945 – a guided missile.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A weapon that is self-propelled or directed by remote control, carrying an explosive warhead.
2. An object or weapon that is thrown, fired or otherwise propelled at a target.

Word family

• antimissile
• missileer
• missileman
• missilery
• missile gap

Related words

• mess
• message
• messenger
• mission
• missionary
• missive
• emit
• dismiss

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press