Etymologically
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radiator

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈrædɪeɪ̯tə/[1]
  • US: /ˈɹej.di(j)ˌej.tɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English radiate + -or,[2][3][4][5] an agent noun in Latin form.[6] The verb radiate is from Latin radiō (“to beam, shine, gleam”), through its past participle radiātus, from radius (“beam of light; spoke of a wheel”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something that gives off heat, light or another form of energy: 1811, in the Journal of Natural Philosophy.[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to 1832, as anything that radiates.[6]

Semantic evolution

The general sense of something that radiates was soon narrowed to a heating device.[6] A metal enclosure or set of pipes through which hot water, steam or air circulates to warm a room is recorded from 1838, in a newspaper from Bangor, Maine;[2] Etymonline finds the sense of a device passing heat from steam to a room by 1855.[6] In radio a radiator was a transmitting aerial from 1897,[2] and since 1900 the word named the bank of thin tubes that cools the water circulating round the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine;[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1899.[6] In Australia and New Zealand a radiator is also an electric fire.[7]

Timeline

  • 1811 – something that radiates heat, light or other energy.[2][3]
  • 1838 – a device for heating a room by circulating hot water, steam or air.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1855.[6]
  • 1897 – in radio, a transmitting aerial.[2]
  • 1900 – the cooling device of an internal-combustion engine.[2] Etymonline dates it to 1899.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A device for heating a room, made of pipes or a flat metal panel through which hot water or steam passes: They hung the wet socks on the radiator.[7][2]
  2. A device for cooling an internal-combustion engine, made of thin tubes in which the circulating water gives off its heat to the air.[7][2]
  3. Anything that gives off radiation, such as heat, light or sound.[3][2]
  4. (Australia and New Zealand) An electric heater.[7]
  5. In electronics, the part of an aerial that sends out the radio waves.[7][2]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins