robot
/ˈroʊbɒt/
noun
Origin
Czech
robota — forced labor, drudgery
Overview
Meaning Now
- A machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.
- A person who acts in a mechanical or perfunctory way, lacking emotion or spontaneity.
Literal older meaning
forced laborer
Language path
Proto-Slavic → Czech → English
Earliest form
robot
Earliest period
1920
Journey
The word was introduced to the world by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in his 1920 science fiction play R.U.R. Although Karel is credited with popularizing the term, he publicly acknowledged that his brother, the painter and writer Josef Čapek, was the actual inventor of the word, derived from the Slavic 'robota'.
Evolution
- Proto-Slavic
*orbota
“servitude, heavy work”
- Old Czech
robota
“forced labor of serfs”
- 1920, Czech
robot
“artificial humanoid worker”
Coined by Josef Čapek for his brother Karel's play.
- 1923, English
robot
“automatic mechanical device”
Introduced via the English translation of the play.
Connections
Word parts
robot
root
forced worker
Related across languages
Russian
rabota
work
German
corvée/forced labor
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Related to robot
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.