echolocation

Coined by American zoologist Donald Griffin in 1944, from echo +‎ location.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɛkoʊloʊˈkeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

echolocation (countable and uncountable, plural echolocations)

1. The use of echoes to detect objects as observed in bats and other natural creatures. Also known as biosonar.
   • 1944 December 29, Donald Redfield Griffin, “Echolocation by Blind Men, Bats and Radar”, in Science, volume 100, number 2609, →DOI, page 598, columns 1–2:

     Since there is no convenient term available to describe this process of locating obstacles by means of echoes, I suggest the word echolocation […]. The meaning of this word, and a corresponding verb to echolocate, are likely to be clear when first heard or read, since they are formed simply by joining echo and locate. It seems best to accent the first syllable in order to make clear that the word echo is employed.

   • 1953 February 7, Donald Redfield Griffin, “Summary and Discussion of Section III”, in Proceedings of a Conference on Orientation in Animals, Washington, D.C.: Office of Naval Research, page 272:

     Now similarly with the aquatic mammals, we know that they can make sounds. We are beginning to get information—although no curves yet—on their sensitivity of hearing. These need to be followed up and we should look for this process of echo-ranging or echolocation.

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.