robotic

Etymology

It is formed from English robot + -ic.^[2][3][4] The OED notes that the adverb robotically is recorded slightly earlier.^[2] The base noun is from Czech robot, introduced in Karel Čapek's 1920 play “Rossum’s Universal Robots”,^[2][4] from robota (“forced labour, drudgery”).^[2][4][5] According to Čapek, the word was suggested to him by his brother Josef.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of a robot, or relating to robots: 1928, in the Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily News.^[2][6] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate date the adjective to 1941, Etymonline crediting it to Asimov.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Within a year the adjective was also used of people or behaviour that resemble a robot: mechanical and without emotion (1929).^[2][8] The first edition of the OED dated the plural robotics, the science of designing and building robots, to 1941.^[9][3] Use of robotic itself as a noun meaning "a robot" is recorded from 1951, in Clifford Simak, but has stayed rare.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1928 – of the nature of a robot; relating to robots.^[2][6]
• 1929 – resembling a robot; mechanical, emotionless.^[2][8]
• 1941 – date given by Etymonline (Asimov) and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate.^[4][7]
• 1951 – noun, a robot (rare).^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to robots, or being a robot: The factory installed a robotic arm to weld the frames.^[6][2][3]
2. Like a robot; mechanical and showing no feeling: He answered every question in the same robotic voice.^[6][2][3]

Word family

• robotically
• robotics
• roboticist

Related words

• robot

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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press