pedometer

[puh-dom-i-ter]

noun

1. an instrument worn by a walker or runner for recording the number of steps taken, thereby showing approximately the distance traveled.

pedometer

/ pɪˈdɒmɪtə /

noun

1. a device containing a pivoted weight that records the number of steps taken in walking and hence the distance travelled

Other Word Forms

• pedometrical adjective
• pedometrically adverb
• pedometrist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pedometer¹

1723; < French pédomètre, equivalent to péd- (learned use of Latin ped- foot (stem of pēs ); pedi- ) + -omètre ( -o-, -meter )

Example Sentences

“The whole idea behind the 10,000 steps was actually a marketing campaign for a company in Japan that developed a pedometer,” said David Raichlen, professor of biological sciences and anthropology at USC.

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All participants, including those in the no exercise group, wore pedometers to measure daily steps.

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When a Japanese company invented the first pedometer in the 1960s, they called it the “10,000-step meter” because the Japanese character for 10,000 looks like a person walking.

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The researchers sent participants a kit with pedometers, blood pressure monitors, and step diaries for participants to log how much they were walking each day.

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He works out at a local gym, puts 18,000 steps on his pedometer every day and hopes to study hard to land his dream job as an automotive engineer.

Read more on Seattle Times