robot.
A system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.
Meaning & usage
A system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.
Where this word comes from
From German Robot, from a West Slavic language, ultimately related to Etymology 2, below.
An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.
A machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed.
We have a robot in the house that does the vacuuming.
A bot, software designed to perform a task.
A person who does not seem to have any emotions or individuality.
A traffic light (from earlier robot policeman).
A theodolite which follows the movements of a prism and can be used by a one-man crew.
A style of dance popular in disco in which the dancer imitates the stiff movements of a stereotypical android robot.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos Proto-Balto-Slavic *árbas Proto-Slavic *orbъ Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Balto-Slavic *-éitei Proto-Slavic *-iti Proto-Slavic *orbiti Proto-Indo-European *-otéh₂ Proto-Balto-Slavic *-atā́ˀ Proto-Slavic *-ota Proto-Slavic *orbota Old Czech robota Czech robota Czech robotbor. English robot Borrowed from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef. Ultimately a cognate with Middle English arveth from Old English earfoþe, and German Arbeit; see dialectal erf. Doublet of etymology 1. Related to English orphan, but with a -t- suffix from Proto-Slavic instead of the -an- from Ancient Greek. Compare Polish robotnik and Russian работник (rabotnik, “worker”), sometimes mistakenly cited as the direct source of the English word.
A habitual poster on the /r9k/ board on 4chan; a member of the /r9k/ community.
Where this word comes from
Referencing the origin of the name of the 4chan imageboard /r9k/ (created in 2008), so-called because it implements the ROBOT9000 algorithm by Randall Munroe to prevent the reposting of content. Possibly overlapping with the sense of robot (“a person who does not seem to have any emotions”), alluding to autism, due to the prevalence of personal stories describing awkward or embarrassing situations on the board.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.