Etymology

sonar

S1O1N1A1R1

Today it means: Artificial echolocation by use of electronic equipment, with hydrophones to locate objects underwater, using the same wave-analysis principles that radar uses. Full definition →

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sonar · noun1

By anacronymic evolution from SONAR.

SONAR · noun2

Acronym of sound navigation and ranging. Coined by American scientist Frederick Vinton Hunt in the 1940s, roughly contemporaneously with radar. The lowercase form (sonar) is by anacronymic evolution.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.