dirigible

25 February 2026

Today, the word dirigible is almost always used as a noun, referring to a zeppelin-type airship, and I always had it in my head that the word was related to rigid, a reference to the rigid frame of such an aircraft. But that is not the case. The word began life as an adjective meaning capable of being directed or steered. It was formed from the Latin verb dirigere, meaning to direct, steer, or guide. So a dirigible is a steerable balloon.

The adjective makes its appearance in English by the late sixteenth century. Here is an example from William Lambarde’s 1588 Eirenarcha: or the Office of the Iustices of the Peace on oaths of office:

It would auayle greatly to the furtherance of the Service, if the Dedimus potestatem [delegated power] to giue these Oaths were dirigible to the Iustices (and none other) to minister the same not elsewhere, but in their open Sessions.

The adjective begins to be applied to balloons by latter half of the nineteenth century. From Littell’s Living Age of 21 August 1875:

The more important problem is, how to make a balloon travel, not with, but through the air; in the same manner as boat, instead of being floated along with the stream, is made to move in an independent course through the water. In short, we want what, if we may coin a word for the purpose, we may call a dirigible balloon.

And the noun dirigible, meaning a steerable balloon, is in place by the end of that century. From Montana’s Anaconda Standard of 11 September 1898:

[The French] have spent $80,000 some years upon their aeronautical department, and keep their progress secret, but statements have been made by those who ought to know that French dirigibles can now attain a speed of 25 miles an hour.

Sources:

“Balloons and Voyages in the Air.” Littell’s Living Age (Boston, Massachusetts), 21 August 1875, 451–68 at 465/1. Gale Primary Sources: American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society.

“Balloons Neglected.” Anaconda Standard (Montana), 11 September 1898, 18/5. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.

Lambarde, William. Eirenarcha: or the Office of the Iustices of the Peace, revised. London: Ralph Newberry, 1588, 62. ProQuest: Early English Books Online (EEBO).

Oxford English Dictionary Online, 1896, s.v. dirigible, adj. & n.

Image credit: UK government, 1915. Wikimedia Commons. Library of Congress, cph.3g10972. Public domain image.