trajectory

Meaning

Noun

• The path an object takes as it moves.
• The path of a body as it travels through space.
• The ordered set of intermediate states assumed by a dynamical system as a result of time evolution.
• A course of development, such as that of a war or career.

Origin

• From New Latin la, from trāiectōrius, from Latin trāiectus, past participle of trāiciō, from trans- (see trans-) + iaciō (from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁-). Middle French and Middle English had trajectorie (“end of a funnel”), from Latin trāiectōrium.