c.1330,
passager "passer-by," from O.Fr.
passageor "traveler," noun use of
passagier (adj.) "passing, fleeting, traveling," from
passage (see
passage). The
-n- was added c.1420 (cf.
messenger, harbinger, scavenger). Meaning "one traveling in a vehicle or vessel" first attested 1511.
Passenger-pigeon of N.Amer. so called from 1802; extinct since 1914.