robot

Etymology

industrial robot handling flat glass

From Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1921 science-fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef , and taken into English without change.

Pronunciation

• enPR: rō′bŏt
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹəʊbɒt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊbɑt/
  • (rare, antiquated) enPR: rō′bət, IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊbət/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

robot (plural robots)

1. A machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed.
   • 2010 May 16, Tim Webb, The Guardian:

     It's painfully slow and complex work which has never been attempted before in these conditions: the small box-shaped robots, equipped with two claws, are operating in almost freezing water 5,000ft below the surface, in pitch black and strong currents.

2. (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.
   • 2010 January 26, Tom Chivers and Iain McDiarmid, The Telegraph:

     The robots in Dick's novel, loosely adapted by Ridley Scott into the film Blade Runner, were so similar to humans that when they went rogue, trained bounty hunters were called in to perform psychological tests to see whether suspected androids lacked human empathy.

3. (figuratively) A person who does not seem to have any emotions.
   • 2006, Murray N. Rothbard, Making Economic Sense, page xiv:

     Yet surely he was a humorless robot of a man, spewing forth lonely and bitter critiques of all those lesser mortals with whom he could not identify.

4. (South Africa) A traffic light (from earlier robot policeman).
5. (surveying) A theodolite which follows the movements of a prism and can be used by a one-man crew.
6. A style of dance popular in disco whereby the dancer impersonates the movement of a robot

See also

• artificial intelligence
• computer
• cyborg
• domotics
• pedipulator
• robot revolution

References

• “robot” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “robot” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.

Anagrams

• boort, torob

Etymology

From Czech robot.

Noun

robot m (plural robots)

1. robot

Etymology

From English robot, from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1921 science-fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ro‧bot

Noun

robot

1. a machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed
2. an intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal
3. (figuratively) a person who does not seem to have any emotions
4. a style of dance popular in disco whereby the dancer impersonates the movement of a robot

Etymology

From both the Czech and the Slovak robota. First appeared in the 1921 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef.

Noun

robot m

1. robot

Further reading

• robot in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• robot in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

robot m (plural robots or robotten, diminutive robotje n)

1. robot

Anagrams

• boort

Etymology

From Czech robot.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɔ.bo/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

robot m (plural robots)

1. robot

Further reading

• “robot” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈrobot]
• Hyphenation: ro‧bot

Etymology 1

From Bavarian robat, robold, from Czech robota (“forced labour, drudgery”).

Etymology 2

From Czech robot, from robota (“forced labour, drudgery”). Coined in the 1921 science-fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek.

Etymology

From Czech robot

Noun

robot m (invariable)

1. robot
2. (computing) bot

Verb

robot tr., 2nd conj., pres. roboju, robo, robo, past roboju

1. to notch
2. to jag
3. to make an incision (on)

Etymology

From Czech robota

Noun

robot m (definite singular roboten, indefinite plural roboter, definite plural robotene)

1. a robot

References

• “robot” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Czech robota

Noun

robot m (definite singular roboten, indefinite plural robotar, definite plural robotane)

1. a robot

References

• “robot” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

From Czech robot

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔ.bɔt/

Noun

robot m inan

1. robot

Noun

robot m (plural robots)

1. Alternative form of robô

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rôbot/
• Hyphenation: ro‧bot

Noun

rȍbot m (Cyrillic spelling ро̏бот)

1. robot

Etymology

From Czech robot.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɔˈbóːt/
• Tonal orthography: robọ̑t

Noun

robót m anim (genitive robóta, nominative plural robóti)

1. robot

Etymology

From English robot, from Czech.

Noun

robot m (plural robots)

1. robot

Noun

robot c

1. robot
2. missile

Etymology

From Czech robot.

Noun

robot (definite accusative robotu, plural robotlar)

1. robot