aviation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the activity, science, or practice of designing and operating aircraft

   She studied aviation before training as a commercial pilot.

2. 2
   noun

   the industry or system of travel and transport by aircraft

   New safety rules affected both military and civil aviation.

Borrowed from French aviation, coined in the nineteenth century from Latin avis ('bird') with the action suffix -ation. It first named human flight and soon expanded to the technology and industry of aircraft.

Topics