Launcher

How to spell launcher

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce launcher

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does launcher mean?

1. nounA device, mechanism, or piece of software used to send something off or to start a program.

Launcher in a sentence

• The app launcher on the home screen opens every program in one tap.

• The soldiers carried a portable rocket launcher across the field.

Where does launcher come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the verb 'launch', which English took from Old French in the 1300s. The Old French 'lanchier', a northern variant of 'lancier', meant 'to hurl' or 'to throw', and it descended from the Late Latin 'lanceare', meaning 'to wield or fling a lance', itself formed from 'lancea', the Latin word for a light spear. The earliest English sense was simply to hurl something forward, and from there it grew to mean setting a boat into the water and, much later, sending a rocket or a product into the world. The agent suffix '-er' was then added to name the thing or person that performs the launching, giving us 'launcher'. The single 'n' followed by 'ch' is the spelling trap here, since the word sounds smooth and gives no hint of the buried Latin 'lancea' that explains the letters.

How the word is built

• launch (to hurl or send off, from Latin lancea: lance)
• -er (agent suffix: one that does)