Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “payload” come from?

Payload derives from English pay, Middle English lode, Latin picare, Latin pacare, and Proto-Indo-European kelh₂-, tracing a semantic path through concepts of appeasement and obligation.

payload (English): That part of a cargo that produces revenue; The...

Definitions

  1. That part of a cargo that produces revenue; The...

Ancestry of “payload”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishpayTo give money or other compensation to in...
2Middle Englishpayenpagan
3Old Frenchpaiierto pay
4Medieval Latinpacareto settle, satisfy; present active infinitive of...
5Latinpācāre—
6Latinpāx—
7Proto-Italicpākspeace
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpéh₂ḱ-speace
9Proto-Indo-Europeanpeh₂ḱ-to join, to attach; agreement, settlement

Words derived from “payload”

  • multipayload
Every word from Proto-Indo-European peh₂ḱ- →