robot
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: rō′bŏt
enpr: rō′bət
enpr: rō′bōt
ipa: /ˈɹəʊ.bɒt/
ipa: /ˈɹəʊ.bət/
ipa: /ˈɹoʊ.bɑt/
ipa: /ˈɹoʊ.bət/
ipa: /ˈɹəʉ.bɔt/
note: Indic
ipa: /ro.boʈ/
rhymes: -əʊbɒt
rhymes: -əʊbət
Forms: form: robots
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ-
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos
Proto-Balto-Slavic *árbas
Proto-Slavic *orbъ
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
Proto-Slavic *-iti
Proto-Slavic *orbiti
Proto-Balto-Slavic *-atā́ˀ
Proto-Slavic *-ota
Proto-Slavic *orbota
Old Czech robota
Czech robota
Czech robotbor.
English robot
Borrowed from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef.
Ultimately a cognate with Old English earfoþe and German Arbeit; see dialectal erf. Doublet of etymology 1. Related to English orphan, but with a -t- suffix from Proto-Slavic instead of the -an- from Ancient Greek.
Compare Polish robotnik and Russian работник (rabotnik, “worker”), sometimes mistakenly cited as the direct source of the English word.
Senses: examples: text: Young Rossum invented a worker with a minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work—everything that makes man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul.
ref: c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act I, page 17:
text: The robots in Dick's novel, loosely adapted by Ridley Scott into the film Blade Runner, were so similar to humans that when they went rogue, trained bounty hunters were called in to perform psychological tests to see whether suspected androids lacked human empathy.
ref: 2010 January 26, Tom Chivers, Iain McDiarmid, The Telegraph:
topics: literature
media
publishing
science-fiction
glosses: An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.
examples: text: We have a robot in the house that does the vacuuming.
text: It's painfully slow and complex work which has never been attempted before in these conditions: the small box-shaped robots, equipped with two claws, are operating in almost freezing water 5,000ft below the surface, in pitch black and strong currents.
ref: 2010 May 16, Tim Webb, The Guardian:
text: Compared to humanoids, industrial robots typically feature less advanced technology and perform less sophisticated tasks. They’re widely used in industrial settings for manufacturing or transportation. […] About 56% of the humanoid robot supply chain companies are based in China, according to a Morgan Stanley research report last month.
ref: 2025 March 25, John Liu, “Elon Musk thinks robots are a $10 trillion business. He’s got some competition from China”, in CNN:
hypernyms: automaton
glosses: A machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed.
examples: text: Clifton Sellers attended a Zoom meeting last month where robots outnumbered humans.
ref: 2025 July 2, Lisa Bonos, Danielle Abril, “No one likes meetings. They’re sending their AI note takers instead.”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2025:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A bot, software designed to perform a task.
examples: text: Straight society tries to change us by several means. Most of the time, it is mental torture, though physical abuse is not uncommon. We are programmed to be straight starting from the day we are born, and every action, word, and feeling must conform to the straight image. If we DO decide to be free rather than to be robots, here are some of the consequences.
ref: 1973 December 22, Satya, “It Is Not We Who Must Change”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 27, page 3:
text: Yet surely he was a humorless robot of a man, spewing forth lonely and bitter critiques of all those lesser mortals with whom he could not identify.
ref: 2006, Murray N. Rothbard, Making Economic Sense, page xiv:
glosses: A person who does not seem to have any emotions or individuality.
glosses: A traffic light (from earlier robot policeman).
topics: geography
natural-sciences
surveying
glosses: A theodolite which follows the movements of a prism and can be used by a one-man crew.
topics: dance
dancing
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
qualifier: preceded by definite article
glosses: A style of dance popular in disco in which the dancer imitates the stiff movements of a stereotypical android robot.
Synonyms: word: bot
word: robo
word: robot
word: clanker
Hypernyms: word: automaton
word: device
word: machine
Hyponyms: word: swarm robot
word: android
word: animatron
word: anthrobot
word: biomechanoid
word: bion
word: biot
word: biobot
word: biorobot
word: cobot
word: cyborg
word: droid
word: drone
word: fembot
word: gastrobot
word: gynoid
word: humaniform
word: manbot
word: mech
word: mecha
word: mechanoid
word: microbot
word: microrobot
word: mobot
word: nanobot
word: replicant
word: robocar
word: robocat
word: robodog
word: robodroid
word: robofish
word: roboid
word: skin job
word: soft robot
word: spokesdroid
word: telepuppet
word: telerobot
word: turtle
word: walker
word: agribot
word: astrobot
word: killbot
word: nursebot
word: robochef
word: robodoc
word: robonaut
word: robopet
word: salesbot
word: sexbot
word: warbot
word: adbot
word: annoybot
word: cancelbot
word: chatbot
word: crawler
word: gamebot
word: hackbot
word: knowbot
word: modbot
word: newsbot
word: pornbot
word: robolawyer
word: scambot
word: shopping bot
word: spambot
Derived terms: anthrobot
antirobot
biorobot
biot
-bot
bot
Brobot
cobot
frozen robot syndrome
healthcare robot
housebot
kidnapped robot problem
microrobot
millirobot
Mobot
multirobot
nanorobot
robo-
roboid
robomb
robot chess
roboteer
robotesque
robotess
robotgirl
robothood
robotic
roboticide
roboticist
robotics
robotise
robotism
robotization
robotize
robot jockey
robotkind
robotless
robotlike
robot mower
robotness
robotocracy
robotology
robot revolution
robotrix
robotry
robot tax
soft robot
telerobot
Web robot
Zogbot
Related terms: word: artificial intelligence
word: -bot
word: computer
word: domotics
word: pedipulator
word: robotic
word: robotics
word: robotization
word: robo-
word: robocall
word: robosexual
word: tin man