turbine

Etymology

It is borrowed from French turbine,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin turbō (“spinning top; whirlwind, eddy; anything that whirls”),^[2][4][3][7] which is related to turba (“turmoil, crowd”),^[2][4][7] the source of turbid, disturb and trouble.^[2][7] The American Heritage Dictionary suggests that the Latin word may come from a Greek word for turmoil.^[5] According to Ayto, the French word was coined around 1824 for a wheel turning on an axis, driven by water pressure.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A water wheel turning on a vertical axis, driven by a column of water falling into it and escaping through outlets: 1838, in the Railway Magazine.^[3][4][2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1842,^[8] and Ayto to the early 1840s.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From about 1900 the word was used of machines driven by the flow of steam or air as well as water;^[2] the OED records the steam turbine from 1900 and the gas turbine from 1904.^[3] In sugar making a turbine was also a centrifugal separator, from 1873.^[3] The combining form turbo- dates from the 19th century,^[6] and turbo was used of gas turbine engines by 1904.^[2] Modern dictionaries define the turbine broadly, as any machine in which a moving fluid turns a wheel or rotor fitted with blades or vanes.^[9][10][8]

Timeline

• 1838 – a water wheel turning on a vertical axis.^[3][4][2]
• 1873 – a centrifugal separator used in sugar making.^[3]
• 1900 – a steam turbine.^[3]
• 1904 – a gas turbine.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A machine in which the moving fluid, such as water, steam, gas or air, turns a rotor fitted with blades or vanes and so produces mechanical power: The dam's turbines generate electricity for the region.^[9][10][8]

Word family

• turbo-
• gas turbine
• steam turbine
• water turbine
• wind turbine
• reaction turbine

Related words

• turbid
• turbojet
• turbomachinery
• disturb
• trouble
• turbo

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins