EDGE / 0097creative coinageestablished

A CLAIM
YOU CAN AUDIT.

A relationship—not a generated explanation. Both endpoints, every editorial field, every citation, and every dossier reuse are preserved below.

robot

an artificial worker; later an automatic or programmable machine

DESCENDS FROM→

compulsory labor, corvée, drudgery

THE COMPLETE RELATIONSHIP

SOUND CHANGE

Josef Čapek suggested robot from Czech robota; English received the coined form through Karel Čapek's R.U.R. and its translation.

SEMANTIC CHANGE

Compulsory human labor was reassigned to artificial workers, then generalized to automatic machines.

CHRONOLOGY

R.U.R. appeared in 1920; English first known use is 1922.

SCHOLAR / EDITORIAL AUTHORITY

Merriam-Webster editors

CONFIDENCE

established — no additional confidence note is attached.

EDITORIAL STATUS

reviewed

CITATION REGISTER

S01

Robot — Word HistoryDid You Know and Word History

Josef Čapek suggestion, robota, 1920 play, and 1922 English record.

supportsAUDIT SOURCE ↗ORIGINAL ↗

EDITORIAL REUSE

robot → robota