Projectile

How to spell projectile

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce projectile

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does projectile mean?

1. nounAn object that is thrown, launched, or fired through the air, especially as a weapon.
2. adjectiveDriven forward through the air with great force, as if launched.

Projectile in a sentence

• noun

  The explosion sent a heavy metal projectile across the workshop.

• adjective

  The crash test measured how far the projectile dummy parts flew.

• noun

  Engineers calculated the speed of the projectile before it hit the target.

• adjective

  The faulty valve released the liquid with projectile force.

Where does projectile come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb proicere, meaning 'to throw forward', which was built from pro- 'forward' and jacere 'to throw'. The past participle of jacere was iactus, and that same throwing root quietly survives in a whole family of English words such as 'eject', 'inject', 'reject' and 'trajectory', all of which involve something being thrown or cast. Scholars of the seventeenth century, especially those writing about gunnery and the new science of motion, coined the modern term from the Latin to describe a body hurled or driven through the air. It entered English in the 1600s, first as a technical adjective and soon as a noun for anything launched as a missile. The spelling keeps the buried 'ject' root intact, so remembering that you are literally describing something thrown (jacere) forward (pro-) helps fix the middle of the word.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• ject (throw, from Latin jacere)
• -ile (relating to, tending to)