transmission

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /trænzˈmɪʃ.ən/, /trɑːnzˈmɪʃ.ən/, US /trænzˈmɪʃ.ən/, /trænˈsmɪʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin trānsmissiō (“a sending over or across, passage”) (accusative transmissionem),^[2][3][4] perhaps also through Old French transmission,^[3] a noun of action from trānsmissus, the past participle of trānsmittere (“to send over or across”) (see transmit),^[2][3] from trans- and mittere “to send” (see mission).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Conveyance or transfer from one person or place to another: 1611, in Florio's dictionary.^[3][7][4]

Semantic evolution

By the mid-18th century it was used of the communication of information.^[2] In physics, the passage of light or heat through a medium is from 1704,^[2][7] later extended to radio, by 1907, and electronic signals.^[2][3] In biology, heredity, the passing on of characters to offspring, is from 1871.^[2][7] The transference of motive force is from 1906 in the OED,^[7] and the part of a motor vehicle that carries power from the engine to the axle, the gearbox, from 1894.^[3][2] Transmission lines for high-voltage electricity are from 1906.^[3]

Timeline

• 1611 – conveyance, transfer.^[3][7]
• 1704 – of light or heat.^[2][7]
• 1871 – heredity.^[2][7]
• 1894 – a car's transmission.^[3][2]
• 1906 – transmission line.^[3]
• 1907 – a radio transmission.^[3][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of passing something on, such as a disease or information.
2. A broadcast, or the sending out of radio or television signals.
3. The system of gears that carries power from a vehicle's engine to its wheels; a gearbox.
4. The passage of light, heat or sound through a medium.

Word family

• transmissive
• transmissivity
• transmissively
• transmissiveness
• neurotransmission
• nontransmission
• pretransmission
• retransmission

Related words

• transmissible
• transmit
• transmitter
• mission
• emission
• admission
• trans-

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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