Etymologically
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transporter

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 05:15. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /tɹænsˈpɔːt.ə/, /tɹansˈpɔːt.ə/[1]
  • US: /tɹænsˈpoɹt.əɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English transport + -er,[2][3][4][5] an agent noun from the verb.[3] Johnson (1755) also derived it from transport.[6] The verb transport came through Old French from Latin trānsportō (“to carry over”).[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who transports: 1535, in an Act of Henry VIII,[2][8] the 1530s in Etymonline, where it is "one who transports" in any sense.[3]

Semantic evolution

For more than three centuries the word meant a person who carries or conveys goods, as in Johnson's quotation from Carew about pilchards sold to the transporters.[6][2] From 1893 it was used of carrying apparatus, especially devices for moving coal from a quay or between vessels,[2][3] and later of vehicles that carry other vehicles or heavy machinery by road.[2][4] Science fiction gave it the sense of a machine that moves people or things instantly from one place to another, first recorded in 1940.[2] In 19th-century British underworld slang transporter was the mouth, which pronounces a sentence of transportation.[9]

Timeline

  • 1535 – one who transports.[2][8]
  • 1835 – underworld slang, the mouth.[9]
  • 1893 – a carrying apparatus, especially for moving coal.[2][3]
  • 1940 – in science fiction, a device that conveys people or things instantly.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that transports something.[8][2]
  2. A large vehicle for carrying other vehicles or heavy machinery: a car transporter.[4][2]
  3. An apparatus for moving loose material quickly, especially in loading or unloading ships.[8][2]
  4. (science fiction) A device that moves people or objects instantly from one place to another.[2]

Word family

  • transporter bridge

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com