Online Etymology Dictionary

radio: "wireless transmission with radio waves," 1907, abstracted from earlier combinations such as radiophone (1881) and radio-telegraphy (1898), from radio-, comb. form of radiation (q.v.). Use for "radio receiver" is first attested 1917; sense of "sound broadcasting as a medium" is from 1922. Wireless remained more widespread until World War II, when military preference for radio turned the tables. The verb is attested from 1919.
radio-carbon: 1940, from radio- (see radio) + carbon. Radio-carbon dating is attested from 1949.
radiology: "medical use of X-rays," 1900, from radio- (see radio) + Gk.-based scientific suffix -logy "study of."
radioactive: 1898, from Fr. radio-actif, coined by Pierre and Marie Curie from radio-, comb. form of L. radius (see radiation) + actif (fem. active) "active."
wavelength: 1850, "distance between peaks of a wave," from wave (n.) + length. Originally of spectra; radio sense is attested by 1925. Fig. sense of "mental harmony" is recorded from 1927, on analogy of radio waves.
wireless: 1894, as a type of telegraph, from wire (n.) + -less. In ref. to radio broadcasting, attested from 1903, subsequently superseded by radio.
commercial (adj.): 1680s, "pertaining to trade," from commerce + -al (1). Meaning "paid for by advertisements" (in ref. to radio, TV, etc.) is from 1932; meaning "done for the sake of financial profit" (of art, etc.) is from 1871. The noun meaning "an advertisement broadcast on radio or TV" is from 1935. Related: Commercially.
broadcast: 1767, adj., in reference to the spreading of seed, from broad + cast (v.). Figurative use is recorded from 1785. Modern media use began with radio (1922, adj. and noun). As a verb, recorded from 1813 in an agricultural sense, 1829 in a figurative sense, 1921 in reference to radio. Broadcasting is recorded from 1922.
receive: c.1300, from O.N.Fr. receivre (O.Fr. recoivre), from L. recipere "regain, take back," from re- "back" + -cipere, comb. form of capere "to take" (see capable). Radio and television sense is attested from 1908. Receiver as a telephone apparatus is from 1877; in ref. to a radio unit it is recorded from 1891; in U.S. football sense it dates from 1897.
tune (n.): late 14c., "a musical sound, a succession of musical notes," unexplained variant of tone. Meaning "state of being in proper pitch" is from mid-15c.; the verb in this sense is recorded from c.1500. Non-musical meaning "to adjust an organ or receiver" is recorded from 1887. Verbal phrase tune in in reference to radio (later also TV) is recorded from 1913; figurative sense of "become aware" is recorded from 1926. Tune out "to eliminate radio reception" is recorded from 1908; fig. sense of "disregard, stop heeding" is from 1928. Tunesmith is a U.S. colloquial coinage first recorded 1926.
Roxy: cinema chain built by U.S. radio and film entrepreneur Samuel Lionel Rothafel (1882-1936).
blooper: "blunder," 1947, from either Amer.Eng. baseball slang, "a fly ball missed by the fielder" (1937) or "radio receiver that interferes with nearby sets" (1926).
CB: abbreviation of citizens' band (radio), 1959.
a.m.: type of radio wave broadcast; see amplitude.
quasar: 1964, from "quas(i-stell)ar radio source" (1963).
wilco: 1946, in two-way radio slang, abbreviation and conflation of will comply.
narrator: 1610s; see narration. In sense of "a commentator in a radio program" it is from 1941.
tuner: "device for varying the frequency of a radio or television," 1909, from tune.
announcer: 1640s, agent noun from announce (q.v.). Radio sense is recorded from 1922.
UHF: 1937, abbreviation of ultra-high frequency (1932) in ref. to radio frequencies in the range of 300 to 3,000 megahertz.
beam: O.E. beam originally "living tree," but by 1000 also "post, ship's timber," from W.Gmc. *baumoz (cf. O.Fris. bam "tree, gallows, beam," M.Du. boom, Ger. Baum "tree"), perhaps from PIE verb root *bu- "to grow" (see be). Meaning of "ray of light" developed in O.E., probably because it was used by Bede to render L. columna lucis, Biblical "pillar of fire." Nautical sense of "one of the horizontal transverse timbers holding a ship together" is from 1620s, hence "greatest breadth of a ship," and slang broad in the beam "wide-hipped" (of persons). The verb meaning "emit rays of light" is from mid-15c.; sense of "to smile radiantly" is from 1893; that of "to direct radio transmissions" is from 1927. To be on the beam (1941) was originally an aviator's term for "to follow the course indicated by a radio beam." Lewis Carroll may have thought he was inventing beamish in "Jabberwocky," but it is attested from 1530.
ENIAC: acronym from "electronic numeral integrator and computer," device built 1946 at University of Pennsylvania by John W. Mauchly Jr., J. Presper Eckert Jr., and J.G. Brainerd. It cost $400,000, used 18,000 radio tubes, and was housed in a 30-foot-by-50-foot room.
Nielsen: in ref. to popularity ratings of TV and radio programs, 1951, from Arthur Clarke Nielsen, founder of A.C. Nielsen Co., which evaluates viewership based on samplings of receiving sets.
tata: "good-bye," 1823, a word first recorded as infant's speech. Abbreviation T.T.F.N., "ta-ta for now," popularized 1941 by BBC radio program "ITMA," where it was the characteristic parting of the cockney cleaning woman character Mrs. Mopp, voiced by Dorothy Summers.
FCC: U.S. Federal Communications Commission, formed 1934 from the former Federal Radio Commission.
V: In M.E., -u- and -v- were used interchangeably, though with a preference for v- as the initial letter (vnder, vain, etc.) and -u- elsewhere (full, euer, etc.). The distinction into consonant and vowel identities was established in Eng. by 1630, under influence of continental printers, but into 19c. some dictionaries and other catalogues continued to list -u- and -v- words as a single series. No native Anglo-Saxon words begin in v- except those (vane, vat, vixen) altered by the southwestern England habit of replacing initial f- with v- (and initial s- with z-). Confusion of -v- and -w- was also a characteristic of 16c. Cockney accents. In Ger. rocket weapons systems of WWII, it stood for Vergeltungswaffe "reprisal weapon." V-eight as a type of motor engine is recorded from 1930 (V-engine is attested from 1924), so called for the arrangement. The V for "victory" hand sign was conceived Jan. 1941 by Belgian politician and resistance leader Victor de Laveleye, to signify Fr. victoire and Flem. vrijheid ("freedom"). It was broadcast into Europe by Radio België/Radio Belgique and popularized by the BBC by June 1941, from which time it became a universal allied gesture.
simulcast (v.): "to broadcast simultaneously on radio and television," 1948, formed from simul(taneous) + (broad)cast. The noun is first recorded 1949, from the verb.
radar: 1941, acronym (more or less) for radio detecting and ranging. The U.S. choice, it won out over British radiolocation.
emma: 1891, British telephone and radio enunciation of M to avoid confusion with N.
opry: 1914, U.S. dial. pronunciation of opera. Esp. in Grand Ole Opry, a radio broadcast of country music from Nashville, registered as a proprietary name 1950.
media: "newspapers, radio, TV, etc." 1927, perhaps abstracted from mass media (1923, a technical term in advertising), pl. of medium, on notion of "intermediate agency," a sense first found 1605.
anorak: Eskimo's waterproof, hooded jacket, 1924, from Greenland Eskimo anoraq. Applied to Western immitations of this garment from 1930s. In British slang, "socially inept person" (Partridge associates it with a fondness for left-wing politics and pirate radio) by 1983, on the notion that that sort of person typically wears this sort of coat.
console (n.): 1706, from Fr. console "a bracket," possibly from M.Fr. consolateur, lit. "one who consoles," word used for carved human figures supporting cornices, shelves or rails in choir stalls. Originally "a cabinet," then "organ body" (1881), "radio cabinet" (1925), then "cabinet for a TV, stereo etc." (1944).
channel: c.1300, "bed of running water," from O.Fr. chanel, from L. canalis "groove, channel, waterpipe" (see canal) Given a broader, figurative sense and a verbal meaning 1590s. Meaning "circuit for telegraph communication" (1848) probably led to that of "band of frequency for radio or TV signals" (1928).
landline: by 1861, originally a telegraph wire run over land (as opposed to under sea); from land (n.) + line (n.). In modern use (by 1965), a telephone line which uses wire or some other material (distinguished from a radio or cellular line).
ham (2): "overacting performer," 1882 Amer.Eng., apparently a shortening of hamfatter (1880) "actor of low grade," said to be from an old minstrel show song, "The Ham-fat Man" (1863). The song itself, a black-face number, has nothing to do with acting, so the connection must be with the quality of acting in minstrel shows, where the song was popular. The notion of "amateurish" led to the sense of "amateur radio operator" (1919). The verb in the performance sense is first recorded 1933.
transmit: c.1400, from L. transmittere "send across, transfer, pass on," from trans- "across" + mittere "to send." Transmitter "apparatus for receiving radio signals" is first attested 1934.
antenna: 1640s, "feeler or horn of an insect," from L. antenna "sail yard," the long yard that sticks up on some sails, of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE base *temp- "to stretch, extend." In this sense, it is a loan-transl. of Gk. keraiai "horns" (of insects). Modern use in radio, etc., for "aerial wire" is from 1902.
short-wave: "radio wavelength less than c.100 meters," 1907, from short (adj.) + wave.
microphone: coined from Gk. mikros "small" + phone "sound" (see fame). Modern meaning dates from 1929, from use in radio broadcasting and movie recording. Earlier, "telephone transmitter" (1878) and "ear trumpet for the hard-of-hearing" (1683). Of the two spellings of the short form of the word, mike (1927) is older than mic (1961).
whiz: "clever person," 1914, probably a special use of whiz "something remarkable" (1908), an extended sense of whizz; or perhaps a shortened form of wizard. Noun phrase whiz kid is from 1930s, a take-off on a radio show's quiz kid.
amplify: mid-15c., "to enlarge or expand," from M.Fr. amplifier, from L. amplificare "to enlarge," from amplificus "splendid," from amplus "large" + the root of facere "make, do" (see factitious). Meaning "augment in volume or amount" is from 1570s. Restriction of use to sound seems to have emerged in the electronic age, c.1915, in reference to radio technology.
talk (n.): late 15c., "speech, discourse, conversation," from talk (v.). Meaning "informal lecture or address" is from 1859. Talk of the town first recorded 1620s. Talk show first recorded 1965; talk radio is from 1985.
sponsor (n.): 1651, from L.L. sponsor "sponsor in baptism," in L. "a surety, guarantee," from sponsus, pp. of spondere "give assurance, promise solemnly" (see spondee). Sense of "person who pays for a radio (or, after 1947, TV) program" is first recorded 1931. The verb is attested from 1884, "to favor or support;" commercial broadcasting sense is from 1931.
transistor: "small electronic device," 1948, from transfer + resistor, so called because it transfers an electrical current across a resistor. Said to have been coined by U.S. electrical engineer John Robinson Pierce (1910-2002) of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J., where the device was invented in 1947. It that took over many functions of the vacuum tube. Transistor radio is first recorded 1958.
transvestite: "person with a strong desire to dress in clothing of the opposite sex," 1922, from Ger. Transvestit (1910), coined from L. trans- "across" + vestire "to dress, to clothe" (see wear). Shortened form trannie first recorded 1983 (in 1960s this was used as a slang shortening of transistor radio). Transvestism is first attested 1928.
jam (v.): "to press tightly," also "to become wedged," 1706, of unknown origin, perhaps a variant of champ (v.). Sense of "to cause interference in radio signals" is from 1914. Jazz noun meaning "short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band" dates from 1929, and yielded jam session (1933); perhaps from jam (n.) in sense of "something sweet, something excellent." Noun sense of "machine blockage" is from 1890, which probably led to the colloquial meaning "predicament," first recorded 1914.
frequency: 1640s, "fact of occurring often," from L. frequentia (see frequent). Earlier it had been used in a now-bsolete sense of "state of being crowded" (mid-16c.); sense in physics, "rate of recurrence," especially of a vibration, is from 1831. In radio electronics, frequency modulation (1922, abbreviated F.M.) as a system of broadcasting is distinguished from amplitude modulation (or A.M.).
switch (v.): c.1611, "to strike with a switch," from switch (n.). The meaning "turn off or on" is first recorded 1853, of trains on tracks, 1881 of electricity, 1932 of radio or (later) television. Sense of "shift, divert" is from 1860. Meaning "to change one thing for another" is recorded from 1919. Switch-hitter is 1930s in baseball slang, 1956 in the sense of "bisexual person." Switchback in ref. to zig-zag railways is recorded from 1863.
amplitude: 1540s, from L. amplitudinem (nom. amplitudo, gen. amplitudinis) "wide extent, width," from amplus (see ample). Amplitude modulation in ref. to radio wave broadcast (as opposed to frequency modulation) first attested 1921, usually abbreviated a.m.