eta
- 1Initialism of estimated time of arrival.
Dispatch asked the ambulance crew for an updated ETA.
The storm pushed the cargo ship's ETA back by two days.
Note
It usually comes with a possessive, since an ETA belongs to whoever is on the way: "what's your ETA?", as Avery Johnson radios in Halo 3 (2007), or the cargo ship's ETA. Anything expected at a place can have one, from a ship or aircraft to a cargo, a person or an emergency service.
- 2AY-tuh/ˈeɪtə/UKEE-tuh/ˈiːtə/The seventh letter of the modern Greek alphabet, which was the eighth letter in the old Greek alphabet.
In the engineering paper, a lowercase eta stands for the efficiency of the motor.
The professor drew an eta on the board, and half the class mistook it for an H.
Note
Its capital, Η, looks exactly like a Roman H, which is the trap R. F. Kuang's Babel (2022) sets for a student of Greek: "a rho (Ρ) was not a P, and an eta (Η) was not an H." Reading it as an H is the classic beginner's slip; its plural in English is etas.
- 3Initialism of edited to add.
ETA: Several readers caught a typo in my second paragraph, which I've now corrected.
ETA: The seller refunded my order this morning, so I've changed my review to four stars.
Note
Online writers put it at the head of a line added to a post or comment after it first went up, followed by a colon, so readers can tell the new text from the old. That position is what separates it from the arrival-time ETA, which sits inside a sentence as a noun.
- 4AY-tuh/ˈeɪtə/UKEE-tuh/ˈiːtə/A name, now considered derogatory in Japan, for a social outcast there who is forced into menial work, one of a whole class or caste of outcasts.
Note
The Japanese term behind it means "full of filth", so the insult is built into the name itself. It labels people by the low standing and menial work forced on them, and in Japan it is now considered derogatory; met in reading, it should be taken as the slur it is, never borrowed as a neutral word for anyone.
- 5Initialism of Electronic Travel Authority (Australia).
Her ETA came through the day before her flight to Melbourne.
Check that your ETA is still valid before you book a flight to Perth.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἦτα (êta).
From Japanese 穢多, literally "full of filth"; the term is now considered derogatory in Japan.