sailboat

Etymology

It is a compound from English sail + boat, also written “sail-boat”.^[2][3][1] Sail is from Old English segl,^[2][4] and boat is from Old English bāt.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A boat propelled by sails: 1752, according to Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[6] Etymonline dates it to 1769,^[2] Dictionary.com to 1790–1800,^[3] and the OED's first record, of sail-boat, is from 1798, in a description of the Genesee Country.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed the same: a boat driven by sails, or fitted with them.^[2][6] The OED defines sail-boat simply as a sailing boat,^[4] and Collins notes that sailboat is used especially in the United States and Canada, where British English says sailing boat.^[7] Derivatives such as sailboater and sailboating followed.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1752 – a boat propelled by sails.^[6] Etymonline dates it to 1769, and the OED's first record, as sail-boat, is from 1798.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boat driven by one or more sails; a sailing boat.^[6][7][2]

Word family

• sailboater
• sailboating

Related words

• sail
• boat
• sailing boat

Usage notes

Collins gives sailing boat as the usual British word and sailboat as chiefly American and Canadian.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins