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sonar

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Etymology and origin of the English word sonar

Confidence
Established
Formation
Acronym
First attested
1943 U.S. Fleet Anti-Submarine Bulletin

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsəʊ.nɑː/[1]
  • US: /ˈsoʊ.nɑːɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is an acronym from the first letters of the phrase sound navigation and ranging,[2][3][4][5] formed on the pattern of radar.[2][3][6][7][8] Barnhart and Etymonline give the phrase without the conjunction.[6][7] Barnhart calls the word American English.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A method or system for detecting and locating objects under water by sending out pulses of sound and picking up their echoes: 1943, in the Fleet Anti-Submarine Bulletin of the United States.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1944,[9] and Barnhart and Etymonline to 1946.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word named first the method; from 1944 it also named the equipment used for it,[2] which served to detect submarines and to navigate.[6] From 1953 it was applied to the echolocation of animals such as bats, dolphins and toothed whales;[2][3] from 1962 it was also applied to a medical technique using the echoes of ultrasound to show structures inside the body, a sense now rare.[2] The British name for the device was asdic,[10] an acronym from the Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation Committee.[5][9]

Timeline

  • 1943 – a method of detecting underwater objects by sound echoes.[2]
  • 1944 – a device using this method.[2][9]
  • 1953 – the echolocation of animals such as bats and dolphins.[2]
  • 1962 – medicine, ultrasound imaging (now rare).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A method of detecting and locating objects, especially under water, by sending out sound waves and receiving their echoes: The trawler located the shoal by sonar.[9][4][5][2]
  2. The equipment used for this, as on a submarine or ship.[9][4][2]
  3. A device that detects a vessel such as a submarine by the sound it gives off in water.[9]
  4. The echolocation of animals such as bats and dolphins.[4][2][3]

Word family

  • sonarman

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records an unrelated sonar, a member of a Hindu caste of goldsmiths and silversmiths, from Hindi and ultimately from Sanskrit.[9]

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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Sonar.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/sonar. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·