Etymology Map
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Podcast

2 stages from English to English.

Today it means a digital audio series that can be downloaded or streamed

Where does the word "podcast" come from? It comes from English broadcast, adopted directly into English (2004).

1
Stage 1 of 2
broadcast
English · 1760s
"sown widely; transmitted"
farming term for scattering seed widely by hand; applied to radio transmission in the 1920s, when the BBC began broadcasting in 1922
2
Stage 2 of 2
podcast
English · 2004
"downloadable audio series"
iPod (launched 2001) + broadcast; journalist Ben Hammersley floated the word in The Guardian in February 2004
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Podcast’s story begins in English: broadcast meant “sown widely; transmitted.” Farming term for scattering seed widely by hand; applied to radio transmission in the 1920s, when the BBC began broadcasting in 1922. It reached English by 2004 as podcast. IPod (launched 2001) + broadcast; journalist Ben Hammersley floated the word in The Guardian in February 2004. Today, podcast means a digital audio series that can be downloaded or streamed.