embarkation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act or process of going aboard a ship or aircraft

   Embarkation began two hours before the ferry was due to depart.

2. 2
   noun

   the loading of troops, passengers, vehicles, or equipment onto ships or aircraft

   The officer supervised the embarkation of vehicles onto the transport ship.

Borrowed from French embarcation and also transparently embark + -ation. Embark ultimately combines a Romance prefix meaning 'in, onto' with barca, Late Latin for 'boat.' The noun first centered on putting people or goods aboard a vessel and later extended naturally to aircraft.

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