Word of the Day

airport

Airport

English

American English/ˈɛr.pɔːrt/British English/ˈɛː.pɔːt/
Before planes existed, the word port meant only harbors: water built the metaphor.

Airport is a compound formed in American English around 1919, combining air with port, the second element carrying its meaning from Latin portus (harbor, place of entry). Latin portus traces to the Indo-European root per-, meaning to lead across or ferry through a boundary. England's first designated civil aerodrome opened at Hounslow Heath in 1919, and American publications were already using air port to describe commercial landing fields that same year.

4 stops · from Rome to London Heathrow

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