robot

Where does the word "robot" come from? It comes from Czech robota, and was adopted directly into English (1920s).

Robot’s story begins in Czech: robota meant “forced labor, drudgery.” Coined by Karel Čapek for his play R.U.R., meaning forced labor. It reached English by 1920s as robot. From Karel Čapek's 1920 play 'R.U.R.'; his brother Josef suggested the word, from Czech 'robota', forced labour. Today, robot means a machine capable of automatically carrying out physical tasks.

1. Stage 1 · Czech · 1920 robota "forced labor, drudgery", coined by Karel Čapek for his play R.U.R., meaning forced labor.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1920s robot "an artificial worker or machine", from Karel Čapek's 1920 play 'R.U.R.'; his brother Josef suggested the word, from Czech 'robota', forced labour.