computer (English)
Where does "computer" come from?
The English word 'computer' was formed from the verb 'compute' combined with the agent suffix '-er'[1]. The first sense of the word meaning a person who performs computations appears around 1613 in the works of poet Richard Brathwait[1]. Later, the second sense referring to an electronic device emerges around 1897 in the magazine Engineering[1].
Full etymology tree
- computer (English), 'A person employed to perform computations; one who computes.'
- suffix compute (English), 'To reckon, calculate.'
- suffix -er (English), 'A person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun.'
Ancestors
- *pewH- (Proto-Indo-European)
Cognates and doublets
- cantore (English)
- counter (English)
- kontor (English)
Descendants and derived words
- kompjuter (Albanian)
- kompüter (Azerbaijani)
- কম্পিউটার (Bengali)
- ကွန်ပျူတာ (Burmese)
- computer (Danish)
- computer (Dutch)
- computer (Dutch)
- anticomputer (English)
- compucondria (English)
- compunications (English)
- compusex (English)
- computeracy (English)
Related words
Sources
Updated October 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris