vehicle

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈvɪə.kᵊl/, US /ˈviː.ə.kᵊl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French véhicule (“transmitting agent, vehicle”),^[2][3] and directly from Latin vehiculum (“means of transport, carriage”),^[4][2][5] from vehere (“to carry, convey”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *wegh- (“to go, move, transport in a vehicle”),^[4] the source also of wagon, way and weigh.^[4][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In medicine, a medium through which a drug is given: 1612.^[2][6][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1610s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Any means of conveying or transmitting is from 1615.^[2] A means by which ideas are communicated is from before 1652,^[6] and a liquid with which pigments are mixed in painting from 1787.^[6] A carriage, cart or other conveyance on land is from the 1650s;^[4] Barnhart dates it to Blount's Glossographia (1656).^[2] Vehicular is from 1616.^[2] The motor vehicle running on tyres is a modern sense.^[7]

Timeline

• 1612 – a medium for a drug.^[2][6]
• 1615 – any means of conveyance.^[2]
• 1616 – vehicular.^[2]
• 1650 – a physical means of conveyance.^[6]
• 1656 – a carriage or cart.^[2]
• 1787 – a medium for pigments.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A machine for carrying people or goods, especially on land, such as a car, truck or bus.
2. A means through which something is expressed or achieved: a vehicle for her talents.
3. A substance such as oil or water in which a drug or pigment is mixed.
4. A work, as a play or film, written to show off a particular performer.

Word family

• vehicular
• air-cushion vehicle
• all-terrain vehicle
• launch vehicle
• motor vehicle
• recreational vehicle
• zero-emission vehicle

Related words

• vector
• convection
• wagon
• way
• weigh
• vehement

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin