jet

The journey of 'jet' begins with the fundamental Proto-Indo-European concept of throwing or propelling. This meaning was preserved in the Latin verb 'iacere'. Through French, the noun 'jet' emerged, referring specifically to the act of throwing or a thrown object, which evolved to denote a spout of water. This literal sense of a forcefully propelled stream was directly borrowed into English in the 17th century. The modern, technological meaning for an aircraft powered by a jet engine is a mid-20th century metaphorical extension, perfectly capturing the logic of an aircraft propelled by a high-speed stream of exhaust gases.

The word 'jet' is a simplex loanword. It entered English from the French 'jeter', meaning 'to throw'. The French term derives from the Latin 'iactare', a frequentative form of 'iacere', meaning 'to throw'. The ultimate origin is the Proto-Indo-European root ye-, also meaning 'to throw, to impel'.