mobility

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mə(ʊ)ˈbɪlɪti/ (UK); /moʊˈbɪlɪti/, /moʊˈbɪləti/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is late Middle English, borrowed from Old French mobilité (“changeableness, fickleness”) and directly from Latin mōbilitās, mōbilitātem, activity, speed, figuratively changeableness,^[2][3][4] from mōbilis, movable, easy to move (see mobile).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ability to move or be moved: the early 15th century in Etymonline, 1490 in the OED.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Freedom of movement of the limbs is from 1528,^[5] and changeableness, fickleness, from 1567.^[5] The ability of persons to move about is from 1777,^[5] and in sociology the possibility of movement between social levels from 1900.^[2] A different word, mobility, the mob or common people, formed on mob after nobility in the late 17th century, is now rare.^[4]

Timeline

• 1490 – ability to move.^[5]
• 1528 – freedom of the limbs.^[5]
• 1567 – changeableness.^[5]
• 1777 – movement of persons.^[5]
• 1900 – social mobility.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The quality of being mobile; the ability to move or be moved easily.
2. (sociology) Movement of people between social classes or occupations.

Word family

• automobility
• intermobility
• upward mobility
• social mobility

Related words

• mobile
• mobilization
• mobilize
• move
• motion
• mob

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press