That sportscar went careering down the road. Or
did it careen? Careen comes to us via Middle French from the
Latin word carina, which meant “the keel of a ship.” The original
sense of the English verb was nautical and referred to the way a ship
would lean to one side when sailing in windy conditions. Today, when
used as a verb of motion, careen typically implies high speed. It
often but not always entails a sideways motion or wavering. This sense
probably came from the application of the nautical sense of the word to
automobiles, which usually only careen, that is, lurch or tip
over, when driven at high speedsCareer,
on the other hand, has always been on dry land. It comes from Middle
French carriere, “race course,” which comes from Latin
carrarria, “carriageway,” and ultimately from Latin carrum,
“cart, car.” (The “occupation” sense is an extension of the “race
course” meaning, although many might find this metaphor a bit of a
stretch today.) As a verb, career originally meant “to move over
a course.” In the verb’s first recorded usage, the course was the lane
for each horse at a jousting tournament. But the kinds of courses and
agents of motion soon proliferated, and the verb now means “to move
forward at high speed.”