Etymology

sputnik

sput·nik
S1P3U1T1N1I1K5

Today it means: Any of a series of Soviet robotic space satellites, especially the first one in 1957. Full definition →

Russian спу́тник (spútnik) ← Proto-Slavic *pǫtьnikъ ← Proto-Balto-Slavic *pántis
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

sputnik · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sm̥-
  3. Proto-Balto-Slavic*san?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  5. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm?
  6. Proto-Slavic*sъ(n)
  7. Russianс- (s-)
  8. Proto-Indo-European*pent-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*póntoh₁s
  10. Proto-Balto-Slavic*pántis
  11. Proto-Slavic*pǫtь
  12. Proto-Slavic*pǫtьnikъ
  13. Russianпу́тник (pútnik)
  14. Russianспу́тник (spútnik)
  15. English todaysputnik

From Russian спу́тник (spútnik, “satellite”, literally “fellow traveller”), from с- (s-, “with, together”) + пу́тник (pútnik, “traveller”), from путь (putʹ, “way, journey”) + agent suffix -ник (-nik).

Sputnik · noun, proper noun2

  1. Russian · derived fromСпутник V
  2. English todaySputnik

See sputnik. The vaccine sense is an ellipsis of Sputnik V, from Russian Спутник V (Sputnik V), a trade name given after Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.