Etymologically
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simulator

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 02:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsɪmjʊˌleɪtə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈsɪmjəˌleɪtɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin simulātor (“a copier, imitator, feigner”),[2][3][4] the agent noun of simulō (“to make like, imitate, copy, represent”),[2][3] from the stem of similis (“like, resembling”).[3][2] Merriam-Webster forms it from the past participle simulātus and the suffix -or,[5] and the Shorter Oxford takes it as an English formation from simulate.[6] The OED compares French simulateur, Spanish simulador, Portuguese simulador and Italian simulatore.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who simulates or feigns something, such as illness or holiness: 1835, in Fraser's Magazine.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1899 the word was used of a thing that imitates another.[2] In 1947 it gained its main modern sense, an apparatus that reproduces the behaviour of a more complex system, especially for training, as in a flight simulator.[2][3] In computing, from 1960, a simulator is a program that lets one computer run programs written for a different one.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 1835 – a person who simulates or feigns.[2][3]
  • 1899 – a thing that simulates another.[2]
  • 1947 – an apparatus that simulates a more complex system, for training.[2][3]
  • 1960 – computing, a program that runs another computer's programs.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A machine or system that reproduces the conditions of a real process, vehicle or aircraft, for training or research: The trainee crashed the plane twice in the simulator.[7][5][2]
  2. (computing) A program that lets a computer run programs written for a different computer.[2][6]
  3. A person who simulates or feigns something.[7][2][5]

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