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rodeo

Etymology and origin of the English word rodeo

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Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Spanish rodeo
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rota
English rodeo

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɹəʊ.di.əʊ/ (UK); /ˈɹoʊ.di.oʊ/, /ɹoʊˈdeɪ.oʊ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish rodeo (“cattle pen; a going round”),[2][3][4][5][6] from rodear “to go round, surround”,[2][3][4][5][6] from rueda “wheel”,[2][5][6] from Latin rota (“wheel”).[2][5][6] It is related to rotate and rotary.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The driving together of cattle to sort, count or brand them; a round-up (1834).[7][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1847 the word also meant the enclosure where cattle were brought together.[7][2] Its use for a public exhibition of riding and roping skills dates from 1913–14,[4][7] and it was later extended to similar contests of other kinds, such as motorcycle or bicycle rodeos.[7][6] The verb, to compete in a rodeo, appeared in the 1950s.[7][5]

Timeline

  • 1834 – a cattle round-up.[7][3][4][5]
  • 1847 – a cattle enclosure.[7]
  • 1913 – a public exhibition of cowboy skills (Etymonline, 1914 in the OED).[4][7]
  • 1951 – verb (Merriam-Webster, 1959 in the OED).[5][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A public competition or show of cowboy skills such as riding broncos and roping calves.
  2. A cattle roundup.
  3. An enclosure for cattle that have been rounded up.
  4. Any contest with prizes in various events, as for cyclists.

Verb

  1. To take part in a rodeo.

Word family

  • rodeoer
  • roadeo
  • rotate
  • rotary
  • roundup

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Rodeo.” Etymologically, 14 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/rodeo. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·