Etymologically
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tank

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tæŋk/[1]

Etymology

It came from India in the early 17th century, from a word such as Gujarati tankh “cistern”, Marathi tanken or tanka “reservoir”,[2][3][4] perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit tadaga “pond, lake”.[2][3][5] The later sense, a container, may have been reinforced by Portuguese tanque (“reservoir, pond”),[2][3][5] short for estanque, from estancar “to hold back a flow”,[6][2] from Vulgar Latin *stanticāre, the source of stanch.[2][3][6] Merriam-Webster and the Century Dictionary take the Portuguese word as the source and the resemblance to the Indian words as coincidence.[6][2] Barnhart suggests that it was also associated with tankard.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In India, a pool, lake or artificial reservoir for irrigation or drinking water: about 1616 in the OED and Barnhart,[7][3] the 1610s in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

A large artificial container for liquid is from 1690, in Dryden's Don Sebastian,[7][3] the fuel tank of a motor vehicle from 1902,[7][2] the railway tank car from 1874,[2] and the oil tanker from 1900.[3] The armoured fighting vehicle was named in late 1915 in the British army:[2][3] a memorandum of 24 December 1915 proposed, for secrecy, a “Tank Supply Committee”, and tank was chosen over cistern and reservoir because it was shorter.[2] The machines were shipped under canvas as “water tanks”,[3] and first saw action on 15 September 1916.[2] The slang sense “police cell” is from 1912, American,[2][7] tanked, drunk, from 1893,[2] and the verb “to lose or fail deliberately”, apparently first in tennis, from 1967.[2] The tank top resembles the top of a tank suit, a swimsuit worn in swimming tanks.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1616 – a reservoir in India.[7][3]
  • 1690 – a container for liquid.[7][3]
  • 1863 – verb, to immerse in a tank.[2][3]
  • 1874 – tank car.[2]
  • 1893 – tanked, drunk.[2]
  • 1900 – tanker.[3]
  • 1902 – a fuel tank.[7][2]
  • 1912 – a police cell.[2]
  • 1915 – an armoured vehicle.[2][3]
  • 1967 – verb, to lose deliberately.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large container for holding liquid or gas, or the amount it holds.
  2. An armoured combat vehicle with tracks and a gun in a turret.
  3. (chiefly India) A reservoir, pool or pond.
  4. (slang) A cell in a police station.

Verb

  1. To put or store in a tank.
  2. tank up: to fill a tank with fuel.
  3. (informal) To fail or lose, sometimes on purpose.

Word family

  • tankful
  • tankless
  • tanklike
  • stanch
  • tankard
  • tanker

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 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press