Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “oscillator” come from?

Oscillator derives from English oscillate, from Latin oscillatus, the past participle of oscillare, which combined the prefix ob- with oscillum, a small weight or swing, itself from Ancient Greek ὀβολός, ultimately from ὀβελός meaning pointed object.

oscillator (English): A tuned electronic circuit used to generate a...

Definitions

  1. A tuned electronic circuit used to generate a...

Ancestry of “oscillator”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English‐or—
2Middle English-our—
3Old French-eorAlternative form of -or
4Latin-ator-ator, -er; second-person singular future passive...
5Latin-tor-er
6Proto-Italic-tōr—
7Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
8Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—

Words derived from “oscillator”

  • nanooscillator
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →