Navigation
nounThe process of planning and following a route from one place to another, whether by sea, land, air, or through a system.
How to spell navigation
10 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce navigation
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does navigation mean?
- nounThe process of planning and following a route from one place to another, whether by sea, land, air, or through a system.
Navigation in a sentence
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The ship relied on satellite navigation to cross the open ocean.
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The new car has built-in navigation that announces every turn.
Where does navigation come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word descends from the Latin navigatio, meaning 'a voyage' or 'the act of sailing', which was built from the verb navigare, 'to sail'. That verb was itself a fusion of navis, the Latin word for 'ship', and agere, meaning 'to drive' or 'to lead', so the literal idea was 'to drive a ship along'. English took the word in through French during the 1500s, when sea travel and exploration were at the centre of national life, and it first referred strictly to journeying by water. Over the centuries the meaning broadened well beyond ships, so that today we navigate roads, websites, and even complicated paperwork. The same navis root still surfaces in 'navy' and 'naval', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the single 'v' and the 'i' before the 'g'.
How the word is built
- navi- (from navis: ship)
- -gat- (from agere: to drive/lead)
- -ion (noun suffix)
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