Etymograph

English

robot

Robot comes from Czech robot, coined from robota ‘drudgery, servitude’, and ultimately from Proto-Slavic *orbota ‘work’.

  1. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*orbota1‘work’reconstructed
  2. Old Czechmodernrobota1
  3. Czechmodernrobota1‘drudgery, servitude’
  4. Czechmodernrobot1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1849robot1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English robot
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1849, Littell's Living Age: ““I say again, down with the robot!—he is a…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*orbotaWiktionary, English robot‘work’reconstructed
  2. Old CzechmodernrobotaWiktionary, English robot
  3. CzechmodernrobotaWiktionary, English robot‘drudgery, servitude’
  4. CzechmodernrobotWiktionary, English robot
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1849robotWiktionary, English robot. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1849, Littell's Living Age: ““I say again, down with the robot!—he is a…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ- ‘to change allegiance, status, ownership’

orbit, orphan, orb, bot, erf, 15 more

Another origin of robot

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃erbʰ-‘to change allegiance, status, ownership’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃órbʰos‘servant, slave, worker’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Balto-Slavicc. 2000–500 BCE*árbas‘servant, slave’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*orbъ‘servant, slave’reconstructed
  5. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*orbiti‘to do, to work’reconstructed
  6. Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*orbota‘work’reconstructed
  7. Old Czechmodernrobota
  8. Czechmodernrobota‘drudgery, servitude’
  9. Czechmodernrobot
  10. Englishtodayrobot

Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef.

Today it means

noun A system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “robot”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Slavic *orbota / robot

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