synthesizer

Etymology

It is formed from English synthesize + -er, an agent noun.^[2][3][4][5] Synthesize, recorded in Etymonline from 1825 and in the OED from 1830, is formed from the stem of synthesis and -ize.^[4][2] That noun is from Latin synthesis (“collection, set, composition”),^[2][4] from Ancient Greek σύνθεσις (súnthesis, “composition, a putting together”),^[2][4][1] from συντίθημι (suntíthēmi, “to put together, combine”),^[1] from συν- (sun-, “together”) and τίθημι (títhēmi, “to set, place”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that synthesizes: 1869, in the Contemporary Review.^[2][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The general sense was soon joined by technical ones: from 1909, in the Supplement to the Century Dictionary, a synthesizer was an instrument for generating and combining signals of different frequencies,^[2][3][4] and Dictionary.com likewise dates this sense to 1905–10.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged records instruments used in scientific synthesis, such as an electronic synthesizer for reproducing speech sounds.^[6] The electronic musical instrument dates from the 1950s;^[4] it is now usually computerized and played from a keyboard, and the Shorter Oxford names the Moog synthesizer and the speech or voice synthesizer.^[3][6][7]

Timeline

• 1869 – a person or thing that synthesizes.^[2][6][4]
• 1909 – an instrument for generating and combining signals of different frequencies.^[2][4]
• 1950s – the electronic musical instrument.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An electronic instrument, usually played with a keyboard, that produces and controls a wide range of sounds, especially music: The band added a synthesizer to its second album.^[7][6][3]
2. A device that generates and combines signals of different frequencies, such as one that produces speech sounds.^[2][3][6]
3. A person or thing that synthesizes: a synthesizer of other people's research.^[7][6][2]

Related words

• synthesize
• synthesis
• synthetic
• thesis

Usage notes

British English also spells it synthesiser.^[7][3][6] Etymonline and the OED note that the classically correct form of the verb is synthetize, which keeps the consonant of the Greek stem; it has been used since the 19th century in the sciences and linguistics.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins