projectile

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin projectile (“something thrown or impelled”),^[2][3][4] the noun use of the neuter of projectilis (“capable of being thrown”),^[2][3][5][6] which is recorded from before 1536.^[2] The adjective is formed from Latin prōiectus, the past participle of prōiciō (“to stretch out, throw forth”),^[6][3][5][7] and the suffix -ilis.^[2][4] The verb is formed from prō- (“forward”) and a combining form of iaciō (“to throw”), from Proto-Indo-European *ye- (“to throw, impel”).^[6] The OED notes that the Latin noun is first found slightly later than the English word, in Athanasius Kircher's “Mundus Subterraneus” of 1665.^[2] The English adjective is from the same New Latin adjective,^[2][4] although Etymonline treats it as formed from the verb project and -ile,^[6] and Johnson derived it from French.^[8] The word is related to projection.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An object thrown or propelled through space or the air: 1654, in Walter Charleton's Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1660s,^[6] and Barnhart to 1665, in the form projectil.^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in 17th-century natural philosophy for any body set in motion by a force and continuing by its own inertia;^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a body put in motion".^[8] It came to be used especially of a missile fired from a gun or cannon,^[2][6] and later of a self-propelled missile such as a rocket.^[10] The adjective is recorded from 1696, in William Whiston, both for "propelling, driving forward" (now rare) and for motion caused by an impulse from another body;^[2] Etymonline dates these senses to the 1690s and 1715.^[6] From 1741 it was used of weapons that discharge missiles, since 1838 also of things that can be thrown.^[2] In zoology (1817) it describes jaws or tongues that can be shot out to catch prey,^[2][10] and in literary criticism, after I. A. Richards (1929), an adjective that expresses the writer's view rather than describing the thing.^[2] Etymonline records projectile vomiting from 1985.^[6]

Timeline

• 1654 – noun, an object propelled through space or the air.^[2][4] Barnhart dates the word to 1665.^[5]
• 1696 – adjective, propelling; of motion, caused by an impulse.^[2]
• 1741 – adjective, of a weapon, that discharges missiles.^[2]
• 1817 – adjective, in zoology, that can be shot forward.^[2]
• 1838 – adjective, capable of being thrown as a missile.^[2]
• 1929 – adjective, in literary criticism, expressing the writer's view.^[2]
• 1985 – projectile vomiting.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An object thrown or driven forward by a force, especially one fired from a gun, such as a bullet or shell: The police said the window was broken by a projectile.^[10][4][2]
2. A self-propelled missile, such as a rocket.^[10][4]

Adjective

1. Driven forward by an impulse or force: projectile motion.^[4][2]
2. Capable of being thrown or fired, or designed to be.^[10][2]
3. Driving forward; propelling.^[4][2]
4. (zoology) Able to be thrust out quickly; protrusile.^[10][2]

Related words

• project
• projection
• projector
• eject
• reject
• inject
• jet

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 q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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.
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins