English
detector
Detector comes from Latin dētēctor.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdētēctor
- Englishearliest quotation 2026detector
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdētēctor
- Englishearliest quotation 2026detector
Earliest quotation: 2026, Greg Morse, 1996 crash driving freight reforms: “At 2255, it passed a hot axle box detector…”
Formed from detect + -or
Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- ‘to cover with a roof’
Proto-Italic *tegō ‘to cover’
Latin tegō ‘to cover’
Latin detegere ‘to uncover or disclose’
Latin detectus ‘uncovered, revealed, disclosed’
English detect
Every English word from Latin dētēctor
Today it means
noun A device capable of registering a specific substance or physical phenomenon, and that optionally sounds an alarm or triggers a warning.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin dētēctor / detector