turntable

Etymology

It is formed from English turn + table, the verb with the noun.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A platform or table that can be rotated: 1804, in a British patent of T. Porthouse, in the OED's entry revised in 2023.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date the word to 1835, in its railway sense,^[3][5] and Dictionary.com to 1825–35.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline describes it as originally a railway word, for a platform with a line of rails across it, used to turn locomotives at the end of the line;^[3] the OED's first railway quotation is from a Massachusetts law of 1835.^[2] Other revolving platforms followed: a disc for mounting microscope slides (1867), a mount for a piece of artillery (1873) and a device for turning a camera on its stand (1885–1905).^[2] The rotating plate of a gramophone is recorded in an American patent of 1899,^[2] and Etymonline dates the record-player sense by 1908;^[3] later the word also came to mean the whole record player.^[2][6] From 1975 turntables in the plural meant the linked record decks of a disc jockey.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also lists a support for winding or unwinding rope on a reel and a stunt on the trampoline.^[5]

Timeline

• 1804 – a platform or table that can be rotated.^[2]
• 1835 – a revolving platform with rails for turning locomotives.^[2][3][5]
• 1867 – a disc for mounting microscope slides.^[2]
• 1873 – a revolving mount for a piece of artillery.^[2]
• 1885 – a device for turning a camera on its stand (obsolete by 1905).^[2]
• 1899 – the rotating plate of a gramophone.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense by 1908.^[3]
• 1975 – in the plural, the linked record decks of a disc jockey.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rotating plate of a record player on which a record turns while it is played; also, the record player itself: He kept his father's old turntable for his jazz records.^[7][6][5][2]
2. A revolving platform with a length of track, used to turn locomotives or move them from one track to another.^[7][6][5][2]
3. Any revolving platform or stand, such as a lazy susan or a stand for displaying an object.^[5][2]
4. A rotating disc on which a microscope slide is mounted.^[7][2]
5. (in the plural) A set of two or more turntables linked through a mixer, used by a disc jockey.^[2]

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 n o p q r s 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 Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins