accelerator
Meaninga person or thing that accelerates
Common meaning: a person or thing that accelerates (inferred)
- acto, towards
- celerquick, swiftLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 310 · scan
- atverb or adjective ending: to make, having
- oragent ending: the doer, or the device that does it
‘to, towards’ + ‘quick, swift’ → accelerator
Journey through time
- Latinceler‘quick, swift’
- Englishaccelerate‘to speed up’
- Englishformed in English from accelerateaccelerator‘a person or thing that accelerates (inferred)’ · today
Sources & notes
Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: a person or thing that accelerates. It can be inferred from any of: accelerate.
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from accelerate + -or (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).
Roots
- celer Latin “quick, swift”
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