Drag to pan · scroll to zoom
Drag to rotate
Tracing “”…
Where does the word "velocity" come from? It comes from Latin velocitas, and was adopted directly into English (1500s).
Read the full story
Where does the word "velocity" come from? It comes from Latin velocitas, and was adopted directly into English (1500s).
Velocity’s story begins in Latin: velocitas meant “speed, swiftness.” Speed, swiftness, from velox (swift). It reached English by 1500s as velocity. Settled as the scientific word for speed in a given direction. Today, velocity means the speed of an object in a given direction.
- Stage 1 · Latin · ancient velocitas "speed, swiftness", speed, swiftness, from velox (swift).
- Stage 2 · English · 1500s velocity "the speed of something in a given direction", settled as the scientific word for speed in a given direction.