Etymograph

English

vector

Vector comes from Latin vector ‘carrier, transporter’, from Proto-Italic *weɣō ‘to carry, convey’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to transport’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-1‘to transport’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wéǵʰeti1‘to be transporting’reconstructedderived within Proto-Indo-European
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*weɣō1‘to carry, convey’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvehō1‘to carry, transport, bear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvector1‘carrier, transporter’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1914vector1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English vector
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1914, The New Student's Reference Work:: “As examples of vector quantities may be mentioned the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-Wiktionary, English vector‘to transport’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wéǵʰetiWiktionary, English vector‘to be transporting’reconstructedderived within Proto-Indo-European
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*weɣōWiktionary, English vector‘to carry, convey’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvehōWiktionary, English vector‘to carry, transport, bear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvectorWiktionary, English vector‘carrier, transporter’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1914vectorWiktionary, English vector. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1914, The New Student's Reference Work:: “As examples of vector quantities may be mentioned the…”

The story

The “person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme” sense derives from the disease sense. The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to transport’

way, always, via, wave, reveal, wagon, vogue, wedge, vein, veil, wag, venous, vex, wey, waw, wain, vena, velar, 40 more

through Proto-Indo-European *wéǵʰeti ‘to be transporting’

halfway, weigh, wee, headway, wonky, eunuch, 9 more

through Latin vehō ‘to carry, transport, bear’

vehicle, invective, 11 more

Today it means

noun A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vector”. 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-Indo-European *weǵʰ- / vector

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