payload

American  

[pey-lohd] / ˈpeɪˌloʊd /

noun

1. the part of a cargo producing revenue or income, usually expressed in weight.

2. the number of paying passengers, as on an airplane.

3. Aerospace, Military.

   1. the bomb load, warhead, cargo, or passengers of an aircraft, a rocket, missile, etc., for delivery at a target or destination.

   2. the total complement of equipment carried by a spacecraft for the performance of a particular mission in space.

   3. the explosive energy of the warhead of a missile or of the bomb load of an aircraft.

      a payload of 50 megatons.

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payload British  

/ ˈpeɪˌləʊd /

noun

1. that part of a cargo earning revenue

2. 1. the passengers, cargo, or bombs carried by an aircraft

   2. the equipment carried by a rocket, satellite, or spacecraft

3. the explosive power of a warhead, bomb, etc, carried by a missile or aircraft

   a missile carrying a 50-megaton payload

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Etymology

Origin of payload

First recorded in 1925–30; pay ¹ + load

Explanation

Payload is what a vehicle carries. If you have a plane with a payload of one ton, then that plane can carry one ton (including you and the snacks you may bring aboard). Often, payload is estimated to be everything on board a vehicle that's worth money, or that produces income for the vehicle's owner. In the case of a commercial jet, that might be all the paying passengers. In other cases, a truck, ship, or plane's payload includes every single person and item on board, including the flight crew and fuel. From about 1936, payload frequently referred to bombs carried by a military plane or missile.

Example Sentences

Among the company’s plans is to drive down vehicle-launch costs through the use of its Starship, a massive reusable rocket that SpaceX expects to be capable of carrying a more than 100-metric-ton payload to orbit.

From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026

Li Jiaying, a 43-year-old police officer and mother of three, serves as the payload scientist in the three-member crew who made their way to China's Tiangong space station on Sunday night.

From BBC • May 25, 2026

One payload, the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies, will capture high-resolution images of how the lander's engine plume interacts with the lunar surface during descent and landing.

From Science Daily • May 6, 2026

“That cannot be right,” Livingston Holder, a former manned spaceflight engineer with the Air Force and space shuttle payload specialist, recalled thinking when he first heard that fact.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

When I looked at the hairball on the payload, I didn’t see the eighth grade president; I saw the Super Bowl champions.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman