vibrator

Etymology

It is formed from English vibrate + -or, as an agent noun on Latin models,^[2][3][4][5] and the OED compares Italian vibratore.^[2] The verb is from Latin vibrō (“to move rapidly to and fro, brandish, shake”),^[2][3] from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *weip- (“to turn, vacillate, move quickly to and fro”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the vibrating reeds of an organ or harmonium, by which the sound is made: 1862, in the catalogue of the International Exhibition.^[2][4] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster also date the word to 1862.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

From 1888 the word was applied to many appliances and parts that vibrate or cause vibration,^[2][3] among them a machine for compacting wet concrete,^[2][4][7] a roller that spreads ink in a printing press,^[6] and an electrical device in which a vibrating contact turns a steady current into a pulsating one.^[7] Thomson and Tait used it in mathematics in 1879.^[2] The sense of a small electrical device for sexual stimulation is recorded from 1953.^[3]

Timeline

• 1862 – a vibrating reed of an organ or harmonium.^[2][3][6]
• 1879 – a term in mathematics, in Thomson and Tait.^[2]
• 1888 – any of various vibrating appliances or parts.^[2][3]
• 1953 – a small electrical device for sexual stimulation.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vibrating electrical device used for massage or for sexual stimulation.^[7][6][3]
2. Any device or part that vibrates or causes vibration, such as a machine that settles wet concrete in moulds.^[7][6][2][4]
3. A device in which a vibrating conductor interrupts a circuit, turning a steady current into a pulsating one so that it can be amplified or its voltage changed.^[7]
4. A vibrating body that produces a musical tone, such as a reed in an organ or a violin string.^[6][2][4]
5. In printing, an ink roller that moves from end to end as it turns.^[6]

Related words

• vibrate
• vibrant
• vibration

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins