Etymologically
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speed

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /spiːd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spede,[2][3] inherited from Old English spēd (“success, prosperity, riches; luck; advancement”),[4][5] from Proto-Germanic *spōdiz,[4][5] the source also of Old Saxon spōd “success”, Dutch spoed “haste, speed” and Old High German spuot “success”,[4][5] from the Germanic base of Old English spōwan “to prosper, succeed”.[6][7] It is traced to Proto-Indo-European *spē- (“to thrive, prosper”),[2][4] the source also of Latin spēs “hope” and Sanskrit spháyate “increases”.[4][5][3] The verb is Middle English speden, from Old English spēdan “to succeed, prosper, advance”.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English spēd, “success, prosperity”, is recorded before 800,[5] and in the sense “abundance” before 900.[8]

Semantic evolution

Speed first meant success, and the link with quickness is probably the habit of equating doing something well with doing it fast.[9][2] The meaning “quickness, swiftness” emerged in late Old English, at first usually in the dative plural used as an adverb, as in spedum feran.[4] The old sense survives in Godspeed and more haste, less speed.[9][4] The rate of motion, fast or slow, is from the mid-14th century.[4] The verb meant “to succeed, prosper” in Old English (993),[8][5] “to go quickly” from about 1200,[4][5] “to send forth quickly” from the 1560s,[4] and “to drive a car too fast” from 1908.[4] A gear of a machine is from 1866.[4] The speed limit is from 1879, first of locomotives, and the speed trap from 1908.[4] Speed as slang for amphetamines is from the 1960s, by 1967.[9][4]

Timeline

  • before 800 – Old English spēd, success.[5]
  • 993 – verb, to succeed.[8]
  • late Old English – swiftness.[4]
  • c. 1200 – verb, to go quickly.[4]
  • mid-14th century – rate of motion.[4]
  • 1866 – a gear.[4]
  • 1879 – speed limit.[4]
  • 1908 – verb, to drive too fast, and speed trap.[4]
  • 1967 – amphetamine (slang).[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The rate at which someone or something moves or happens.
  2. Quickness of motion; swiftness.
  3. A gear of a vehicle or machine: a ten-speed bicycle.
  4. The sensitivity of a photographic film, or the time a camera's shutter is open.
  5. (slang) An amphetamine drug.
  6. (archaic) Success; prosperity.

Verb

  1. To move or go quickly.
  2. To drive faster than the legal limit.
  3. (speed up) To make or become faster.
  4. (archaic) To help to succeed; to prosper.

Word family

  • speedster
  • speeder
  • speedful
  • speedfully
  • speedfulness
  • speedingly
  • speedingness
  • speedless
  • speedy
  • speedometer
  • speedway
  • godspeed
  • despair
  • prosper
  • space

Usage notes

In northern English and Yorkshire dialect speed was also a disease of young cattle, especially in autumn.[10]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)