Etymologically
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vehicle

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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
  • 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