On the Sudden Rise to Prominence of the Word 'Infrastructure'

Alex Marshall pens an article inspired by the word "Infrastructure" and its strange rise to prominence over the past 50 years. According to Marshall, "this word 'infrastructure,' which I just managed to use five times in one paragraph without explanation, was not in common discourse 35 years ago in the U.S. and was just about unknown 50 years ago. Where did it come from, and what does its rise mean?"

To back up that claim, Marshall uses Google's Ngram Viewer, discovering that in English, "'infrastructure' was hardly used until about 1960, after which it climbed steadily, taking off after 1980."

So what does it mean, that the word has taken a much more prominent place in the common lexicon? "For me, the way this new word rose up and replaced older terms like 'public works' is interesting and significant. Building roads and bridges where none existed before – 'public works' -- is one thing. Viewing such projects as interconnected, mutually dependent systems that move us from place to place and serve as a primary engine of commerce – 'infrastructure' -- is quite another."

The article includes more evidence about how the usage of the word infrastructure has changed over the years along with more of the implications of that evolution.