Etymologically
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turbine

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈtɜː.baɪn/, /ˈtɜː.bɪn/[1]
  • US: /ˈtɝ.baɪn/, /ˈtɝ.bɪn/[1]

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
  • 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