Propeller

How to spell propeller

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce propeller

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does propeller mean?

1. nounA rotating shaft fitted with angled blades that pushes a ship or aircraft forward through water or air.

Propeller in a sentence

• The diver checked that the boat's propeller was clear of weeds before starting the engine.

• A small aircraft with a single propeller taxied slowly along the runway.

Where does propeller come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb propellere, meaning 'to drive forward', which was built from pro 'forward' and pellere 'to drive, push or strike'. The same pellere root drives a whole family of English words, including 'expel' (drive out), 'repel' (drive back) and 'compel' (drive together), so a propeller is quite literally a device that pushes a craft onward. English already had the verb 'propel' from the 1400s, and 'propeller' was coined later, in the 1700s, as the agent noun naming the thing that does the propelling. It came into its modern technical sense in the 1800s with the rise of screw-driven ships and, later, aircraft. The spelling trap lives in the middle and the end: the doubled 'll' from pellere must stay, and the ending is the Latinate agent suffix -er rather than the -or that catches many writers out.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• pell (from Latin pellere: to drive or push)
• -er (agent noun suffix: the thing that does the action)