submarine

Etymology

It is formed from English sub- + marine,^[2][3][4] perhaps on the model of subterranean, according to Weekley.^[5] The OED compares Medieval Latin submarinus (“existing beneath the sea”), found in a 12th-century British source, and French sous-marin.^[2] The noun meaning a vessel was shortened from the phrase “submarine boat”.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Existing or occurring under the sea: 1626, in Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum.^[2][6] Etymonline and Barnhart date the adjective to the 1640s (1648).^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

John Wilkins wrote in 1647–8 of "submarine navigations" in an ark built to travel under water,^[5][3] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as lying or acting under the sea, quoting him.^[7] As a noun it first meant a creature or plant living under the sea (1703–1843).^[2][3] The underwater vessel appears as submarine boat (1807, in Jefferson's letters) and submarine vessel (1732);^[4][3] the OED finds the noun alone from 1828, while Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1899.^[2][4][3] The verb, at first "to attack with a submarine" (1905), gained the figurative American sense of ruining something covertly (1917).^[2] In American slang the noun named a doughnut (1916) and then a long sandwich: Etymonline finds submarine sandwich by 1931, and the OED has submarine alone from 1949.^[8][2][4] The short form sub is recorded from 1917.^[4]

Timeline

• 1626 – under the surface of the sea.^[2][6]
• 1647 – used or working under the sea.^[2]
• 1703 – as a noun, a sea creature or plant (obsolete by 1843).^[2][3]
• 1732 – submarine vessel.^[4]
• 1807 – submarine boat, in letters of Jefferson.^[3]
• 1828 – a vessel that operates under water;^[2] 1899 according to Etymonline and Barnhart.^[4][3]
• 1905 – the verb, to attack by submarine.^[2]
• 1916 – in American slang, a doughnut.^[8][2]
• 1917 – figuratively, suggestive of the undersea world, in T. S. Eliot; and the verb, to undermine covertly.^[2]
• 1949 – a submarine sandwich.^[2]
• 1965 – the verb, to slide forward under a seat belt in a crash.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A vessel, especially a warship, that can operate under water for long periods.
2. (US) A long sandwich made with a split roll; a sub.

Adjective

1. Existing, happening or used under the surface of the sea: a submarine cable.

Verb

1. To attack or sink with a submarine.
2. (chiefly US) To undermine or ruin something in an underhand way.
3. To slide forward under a seat belt in a crash.

Word family

• submariner
• antisubmarine
• submarine chaser

Related words

• marine
• mariner
• maritime
• subterranean

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com