locomotive
Meaningmoving from place to place
Common meaning: an engine that pulls a train
- loca place, spotLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1074 · scan
- motto set in motionLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1168 · scan
- iveadjective ending: tending to
‘a place, spot’ + ‘to set in motion’ → locomotive
Journey through time
Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.
- loc — Latin locus “a place, spot” (dictionary form; path not traced)
- mot — Latin moveō, mōvī, mōtum “to set in motion” (dictionary form; path not traced)
Sources & notes
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: Built on Latin locus ‘a place, spot’ + Latin moveō ‘to set in motion’.
Did you know (Latin locus, "place,…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry locus, p. 1074 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Latin movere, to…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry moveō, p. 1168 · dictionary scan
Roots
- locus Latin “a place, spot”
- moveō, mōvī, mōtum Latin “to set in motion”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app