Etymologically
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missile

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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

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