Safe and mechanically fit to fly; meeting all official requirements for an aircraft to be operated legally in the air.
Coined in early 1900s from 'air' + 'worthy' (Old English 'weorþ'). Created specifically for aviation when engineers needed to certify that machines were ready for flight.
Before the word 'airworthy' existed, there was no official way to declare whether a flying machine was safe—so aviation pioneers invented it, making it one of the newest major English adjectives tied directly to modern technology.
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