robot
pronunciation
How to pronounce robot in British English:
UK [ˈrəʊbɒt]
How to pronounce robot in American English:
US [ˈroʊbɑːt]
-
- Noun:
- a mechanism that can move automatically
Word Origin
- robot
- robot: [20] Robot is a Czech contribution to English. It comes from robota ‘forced labour, drudgery’, a word related to German arbeit ‘work’. It was used by the Czech dramatist Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) 1920 for ‘mechanical people constructed to do menial tasks’. English acquired it via German robot, and the first record of it in an English text comes from 1923.
- robot (n.)
- 1923, from English translation of 1920 play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik "slave," from robota "forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery," from robotiti "to work, drudge," from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude," from rabu "slave," from Old Slavic *orbu-, from PIE *orbh- "pass from one status to another" (see orphan). The Slavic word thus is a cousin to German Arbeit "work" (Old High German arabeit). According to Rawson the word was popularized by Karel Capek's play, "but was coined by his brother Josef (the two often collaborated), who used it initially in a short story."
Synonym
Example
- 1. But the new telenoid r1 robot is quite different .
- 2. Robot arms are whirring again .
- 3. What if the worker is a robot ?
- 4. How do robot watchers see the future ?
- 5. Why is there a danger in robot companions ?