automation

See also: automâtion

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew

Proto-Indo-European *tó-

Proto-Hellenic *autós

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewder.

Ancient Greek αὖ (aû)

Ancient Greek τόν (tón)

Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós)

Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-)

Proto-Indo-European *men-

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *mn̥tós

Proto-Hellenic *mətós

Ancient Greek αὐτόμᾰτος (autómătos)

Ancient Greek αὐτόμᾰτον (autómăton)der.

Classical Latin automatum

New Latin automaticusbor.

English automatic

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

Proto-Italic *-tiō

Latin -tiō

Latin -ātiōlbor.

Old French -ationbor.

Middle English -acioun

English -ation

English -ion

English automation

From automatic +‎ -ion or automaton +‎ -ion; coined by a Ford Executive Vice President, Delmar S. Harder, in the 1940s.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɔː.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/
• (General American, without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˌɔ.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/, [ˌɔ.ɾəˈmeɪ.ʃən]
• (cot–caught merger, General American, Atlantic Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌɑː.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/, [ˌɑː.ɾəˈmeɪ.ʃən]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌoː.təˈmæɪ.ʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

automation (countable and uncountable, plural automations)

1. The act or process of converting the controlling of a machine or device to a more automatic system, such as computer or electronic controls.

   Synonym: automatization

   Coordinate terms: mechanization, electrification, electronification, computerization, digitalization

   • 1955 June, “Science and Industry”, in The Atlantic‎^[1], →ISSN:

     With all the discussion of automation, one point seems to have been largely overlooked. In a number of fields, automatic controls do not merely cut costs. They also make possible production processes that otherwise could not be attempted.

   • 2012 October 24, David Leonhardt, “Standard of Living Is in the Shadows as Election Issue”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     The presidential campaign has been more focused on Bain Capital and an “apology tour” than on the challenges created by globalization and automation.

   • 2025 February 14, Charles Hugh Smith, Automation Institutionalizes Mediocrity‎^[3]:

     When deployed by monopolies / cartels, automation institutionalizes mediocrity, and soon everyone forgets excellence and quality because they no longer have any experience of either one.

Derived terms

• agrimation
• automate (back-formation)
• automation bias
• automation complacency
• cybernation
• fauxtomation
• home automation
• hyperautomation
• island of automation
• manumation
• nonautomation
• office automation
• semiautomation
• sortation

Related terms

• automat
• automatic
• automatize
• automaton
• autonomation

Descendants

• → French: automation
• → Italian: automazione (calque)
• → Swedish: automation

Translations

converting the controlling of a machine to an automatic system

• Albanian: automatizim (sq) m
• Arabic: أَتْمَتَة f (ʔatmata), تَأْلِيَّة f (taʔliyya)
• Armenian: ավտոմատացում (hy) (avtomatacʻum)
• Asturian: automatización f
• Azerbaijani: avtomatlaşdırma
• Belarusian: аўтаматыза́цыя f (awtamatyzácyja)
• Bulgarian: автоматиза́ция (bg) f (avtomatizácija)
• Burmese: အော်တိုမေးရှင်း (autuime:hrang:)
• Catalan: automatització f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自動化 / 自动化 (zh) (zìdònghuà)

• Czech: automatizace f
• Danish: automatik c automatisering c
• Dutch: automatisering (nl) f
• Esperanto: aŭtomatizo
• Estonian: automatiseerimine
• Finnish: automaatio (fi), automatisointi (fi)
• French: automatisation (fr)
• Galician: automatización (gl) f
• Georgian: ავტომატიზაცია (avṭomaṭizacia)
• German: Automatisierung (de) f
• Hebrew: אוֹטוֹמַצְיָה (he) f (otomatya)
• Hindi: स्वचालन m (svacālan)
• Hungarian: automatizálás (hu)
• Indonesian: otomatisasi (id), automasi
• Italian: automazione (it) f, automatizzazione (it) f
• Japanese: 自動化 (ja) (じどうか, jidōka), オートメーション (ja) (ōtomēshon), オートメ化 (オートメか, ōtomeka)
• Kazakh: автоматтандыру (avtomattandıruw)
• Khmer: ស្វ័យប្រវត្តិកម្ម (svay prɑvŏəttekam)
• Korean: 자동화(自動化) (ko) (jadonghwa), 오토메이션 (otomeisyeon)
• Kyrgyz: автоматизация (avtomatizatsiya)
• Latvian: automatizācija f
• Lithuanian: automatizacija (lt) f
• Macedonian: автоматизација f (avtomatizacija)
• Malay: automasi
• Māori: whakaaunoatanga
• Norman: automâtion f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: automasjon m

• Occitan: automatizacion (oc) f
• Persian: خودکارسازی (fa) (xod-kâr-sâzi), اتوماسیون (fa) (otomâsyon)
• Polish: automatyzacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: automação (pt) f, automatização f
• Romanian: automatizare (ro) f, automatizație f
• Russian: автоматиза́ция (ru) f (avtomatizácija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: аутоматиза́ција f

  Latin: automatizácija (sh) f

• Slovak: automatizácia f
• Slovene: avtomatizacija f
• Spanish: automatización (es)
• Swedish: automation (sv) c, automatisering (sv) c
• Tajik: худкорсозӣ (xudkorsozi)
• Thai: ระบบอัตโนมัติ (rá-bòp-àt-dtà-noo-mát)
• Turkish: otomasyon (tr)
• Ukrainian: автоматиза́ція (uk) f (avtomatyzácija)
• Urdu: خودکاری f (xudkārī)
• Uzbek: avtomatizatsiya, avtomatlashtirish (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự tự động hóa (vi) (事自動化)
• Yiddish: אויטאָמאַציע f (oytomatsye)

References

• “automation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “automation”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English automation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.tɔ.ma.sjɔ̃/, /ɔ.tɔ.ma.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

automation f (plural automations)

1. automation

   Synonym: automatisation

Further reading

• “automation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English automation

Noun

automation c

1. automation

Declension

Declension of automation

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	automation	automations
	definite	automationen	automationens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

Synonyms

• automatisering
• robotisering