The actual speed of an aircraft relative to the ground, accounting for wind speed and direction.
From ground + speed (Old English 'spēd,' meaning quickness). Aviation term that emerged in the 20th century to distinguish actual ground movement from airspeed.
A plane can fly at 400 mph airspeed but have zero groundspeed in a headwind strong enough—pilots learned this the hard way in early aviation when tailwinds mysteriously made flights faster than physics said they should be.
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