radio

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈreɪ.di.əʊ/, US /ˈreɪ.di.oʊ/^[1]

Etymology

It is a clipping of radiotelegraphy and similar compounds,^[2][3][4] the independent use of radio-, from the combining form of Latin radius (“beam, ray”).^[5][6] Barnhart abstracts it from combinations such as radiophone (1881, used by Bell) and radioconductor (1898), but notes its traditional association with radiotelegraphy (1898, after the work of Marconi);^[7] the COED gives radio-telephone.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The transmission of signals by electromagnetic waves, in radio-receiver: 1903.^[7][3][9] Etymonline dates the shortened form to 1907.^[5] A message sent by radio is from 1906, now obsolete.^[9]

Semantic evolution

A radio receiver is from 1913.^[5][9] Sound broadcasting as a medium dates from 1913 in Etymonline^[5] but from 1922, in American English, in Barnhart;^[7] in the winter of 1921–22, Frederick Lewis Allen wrote, radio “came with a rush”.^[5] Radio station is from 1912 and radio wave from 1916,^[7] and radio astronomy and the radio telescope from 1948.^[7] The verb, “to transmit by radio”, is from 1916^[5] or 1919;^[7] an earlier verb in the same sense was marconi (1908), from the name of Guglielmo Marconi.^[5]

Timeline

• 1903 – radio transmission, in radio-receiver.^[7]
• 1906 – a radio message.^[9]
• 1912 – radio station.^[7]
• 1913 – a radio set.^[5][9]
• 1916 – verb, to transmit by radio.^[5]
• 1922 – broadcasting as a medium.^[7]
• 1948 – radio astronomy.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The sending of signals through the air by electromagnetic waves.
2. Sound broadcasting as a medium or industry.
3. A device for receiving radio broadcasts.
4. A device for sending and receiving radio messages: called in by radio.

Verb

1. To send a message by radio.

Related words

• radiate
• radiation
• radiator
• radius
• ray
• radiant
• radium
• wireless

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press