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Added 9 October 2026

mobile

/ˈməʊ.baɪl/ noun

In Latin: mōbilis Coined: 1978, by Richard Bartle Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about mobile at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A river in southwestern Alabama; flows into Mobile Bay.
A port in southwestern Alabama on Mobile Bay.
Sculpture suspended in midair whose delicately balanced parts can be set in motion by air currents.

adjective

Migratory.
a restless mobile society
Moving or capable of moving readily (especially from place to place).
a mobile missile system
Having transportation available.

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”). The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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