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pacemaker

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Etymology and origin of the English word pacemaker

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1870 Sporting Gazette More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origins
Old French pasOld English macianProto-Germanic *-ārī
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English pace
English pacemaker

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpeɪsˌmeɪkə(ɹ)/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English pace + maker,[2][3][4] and was also written with a hyphen.[5] Pace, a step, is from Old French pas (“a step, pace”) and directly from Latin passus (“a step, stride”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A competitor, usually a person or a horse, who sets the pace for others in a race: 1870, in the Sporting Gazette.[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1884, originally of a rider or boat setting the pace for others in training,[5] as does Merriam-Webster;[6] Dictionary.com gives 1880–85.[4]

Semantic evolution

The sporting word soon spread: in 1896 it named a device giving a cyclist or runner a guide to speed, and in 1905, in U. Sinclair's The Jungle, a person who sets the rate of work for others, whence any person or thing that sets a standard or a trend.[2][3] Physiology took it up in 1910 for the part of the heart where each beat begins and which sets its rate, normally the sinoatrial node,[2][5] and after 1949 for any part of the body that controls a rhythmic activity.[2] The artificial electrical device that controls the heart's rhythm is recorded from 1950, in a paper by W. G. Bigelow and others in the Annals of Surgery;[2] Etymonline dates it to 1951, as short for artificial pacemaker.[5]

Timeline

  • 1870 – a competitor who sets the pace for others in a race.[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1884.[5][6]
  • 1896 – a device that guides a cyclist or runner as to speed.[2]
  • 1905 – a person who sets the rate of work for others; a trendsetter.[2]
  • 1910 – the part of the heart that sets its rate of beating.[2][5]
  • 1949 – a part of the body that controls some other rhythmic activity.[2]
  • 1950 – an artificial device that controls the rhythm of the heart.[2] Etymonline dates it to 1951.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A runner, rider or horse that sets the pace for others in a race or in training; a pacesetter.[6][7][2]
  2. A person or thing that takes the lead or sets a standard for others.[6][7][8][2]
  3. (physiology) A part of the body that sets the rhythm of an activity, especially the sinoatrial node of the heart.[6][7][8][2]
  4. (medicine) A small electronic device, usually implanted in the body, that stimulates or regulates the heartbeat.[7][8][2]

Word family

  • pacemaking

References

  1. ^ 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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Pacemaker.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pacemaker. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·