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transport

Etymology and origin of the English word transport

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1374
Borrowed from
Middle French transporter via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (trānsportāre)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: noun: UK /ˈtræn.spɔːt/, US /ˈtræn.spɔːrt/; verb: UK /trænˈspɔːt/, US /trænˈspɔːrt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English transporten,[2][3] borrowed from Middle French transporter (“to carry across; to overwhelm emotionally”) and directly from Latin trānsportāre (“to carry over, take across”),[2][3][4] from trāns (“across”) and portāre (“to carry”),[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).[2] The noun is from the verb.[2][3] It is related to port, import, export and portable.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Figuratively, about 1374 in the OED;[6] “to convey from one place to another”, late 14th century in Etymonline,[2] about 1380 in Chaucer's Boethius according to Barnhart.[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to carry away with strong feeling” is recorded about 1500,[2] 1509 in Barnhart,[3] and the banishment of a criminal to a penal colony from the 1660s.[2][6] The noun first meant a transfer of property (1456)[3][6] and “mental exaltation” in the mid-15th century,[2] later rapture (1658).[6] “The act of carrying” is from the 1610s,[2][6] and a means of conveyance from 1694,[3][6] first a ship carrying troops, supplies or convicts.[2][5] A transported convict was a transport from 1767.[6] In Scots church use, to transport a minister was to move him to another charge.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1374 – figuratively, to carry away.[6]
  • c. 1380 – to convey.[3]
  • 1456 – noun, a transfer of property.[3][6]
  • 1509 – to carry away with emotion.[3]
  • 1610s – the act of carrying.[2]
  • 1660s – to send to a penal colony.[2]
  • 1694 – a means of conveyance.[3][6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To carry from one place to another; to convey.
  2. To move to strong emotion; to enrapture.
  3. To send abroad to a penal colony; to deport.

Noun

  1. The act of transporting; conveyance.
  2. A system or means of carrying people or goods: public transport.
  3. A ship, aircraft or vehicle used to carry troops, passengers or freight.
  4. Rapture: transports of joy.

Word family

  • transportability
  • transportable
  • transporter
  • transportive
  • countertransport
  • pretransport
  • active transport
  • tape transport

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Transport.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/transport. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·