workstation

Etymology

It is formed from English work + station.^[2][3] Etymonline lists it under the hyphenated form “work-station”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A place where a person is stationed for work, or goes to obtain work: 1835, usually written as two words, a sense the OED now calls rare.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1910,^[4] the Merriam-Webster Collegiate to 1931,^[5] Dictionary.com to 1930–35,^[6] and Etymonline to 1950.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In manufacturing, from 1910, a workstation was a place where one of the successive stages of making or assembling a product is carried out, and also an area fitted out for one worker.^[2][7][3] The computing sense appeared in 1972, in Computerworld, first for a desk in a workplace with a computer terminal and keyboard;^[2][3] it was then transferred to the terminal itself,^[3] and later to a computer meant for one person at a time at work.^[2] Merriam-Webster also uses the word for a very powerful microcomputer for scientific or engineering work.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1835 – a place where a person is stationed for work (now rare).^[2]
• 1910 – in manufacturing, a place where one stage of production or assembly is carried out.^[2][4]
• 1972 – a desk with a computer terminal and keyboard; later, the computer itself.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An area, as in an office, fitted with the equipment and furniture for one worker, often including a computer: Each new employee is given a workstation by the window.^[8][4][5]
2. A computer or intelligent terminal used by one person, usually connected to a network.^[4][5][2]
3. A powerful microcomputer used especially for scientific, engineering or graphics work.^[4][5][1]
4. In manufacturing, a place at which one of a series of stages of production or assembly is carried out.^[2][3]

Related words

• work
• station

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin