Etymology

vaporwave

V4A1P3O1R1W4A1V4E1

Today it means: A genre of electronic music and visual arts style that emerged in the early 2010s. As a musical genre, it evolved from chillwave and seapunk with influences from lounge music, elevator music, smooth jazz, and 1980s dance-pop. As an aesthetic, it is influenced by 1990s web design and digital art, anime, and cyberpunk. Full definition →

English vapor(ware) ← Middle English ware ← Old English waru
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The story

  1. Proto-Italic*kwapōs
  2. Latinvapor
  3. Old Frenchvapeur
  4. Old Frenchvapor
  5. Middle Englishvapour
  6. Englishvapor
  7. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  8. Proto-Germanic*samþuz /*samftuz
  9. Proto-West Germanic*samft(ī)
  10. Old Englishsōfte
  11. Middle Englishsofte
  12. Englishsoft
  13. Proto-Germanic*warō
  14. Proto-West Germanic*waru
  15. Old Englishwaru
  16. Middle Englishware
  17. Englishsoftwarebf.
  18. Englishvapor(ware)
  19. English todayvaporwave

From vapor(ware) + -wave.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.