automobile

See also: Automobile and auto-mobile

Contents

English

An automobile.

Etymology

From French automobile, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + French mobile (“moving”), from Latin mobilis (“movable”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.tə.mə.biːl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.tə.moʊ.ˌbil/

• Audio (US, California)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: au‧to‧mo‧bile

Noun

automobile (plural automobiles)

1. (US, Canada) A type of vehicle designed to move on the ground under its own stored power and intended to carry a driver, a small number of additional passengers, and a very limited amount of other load. A car or motorcar.
   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

     Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

Usage notes

• The word automobile usually implies a car with seating for perhaps four or five passengers.
• A vehicle with more than six or seven seats is usually described as a limousine, minivan, van, SUV, bus, etc.

Synonyms

• (passenger vehicle): auto, car, (British) motor, (British) motorcar
• See also Thesaurus:automobile

Coordinate terms

• truck, van, bus, SUV, minivan, station wagon, sedan, coupe, convertible, sports car, racecar; wagon, cart, trailer, tractor; airplane, boat, ship

Related terms

• automatic
• automotive

Descendants

• → Alabama: mobìlika

Translations

passenger vehicle

• Afrikaans: automobiel
• Albanian: automobilm, vetëlëvizës (sq) m, makinë (sq) f
• Apache:

  Jicarilla: bíił

• Arabic: سَيَّارَة‎ (ar) f (sayyāra)
• Armenian: մեքենա (hy) (mekʿena), ավտոմեքենա (hy) (avtomekʿena), ավտո (hy) (avto), (colloquial) մաշնա (mašna), ավտոմոբիլ (hy) (avtomobil)
• Asturian: automóvil m
• Azerbaijani: avtomobil (az)
• Basque: automobil (eu)
• Belarusian: аўтамабі́ль (be) m (aŭtamabílʹ), машы́на f (mašýna), аўтамашы́на f (aŭtamašýna)
• Bengali: গাড়ি (gaṛi), বাহন (bahôn), স্বতশ্চলশকট্‌ (stôśclôśkôṭ‌), মোটরগাড়ি (moṭôrgaŗi)
• Bulgarian: автомоби́л (bg) m (avtomobíl), ко́ла (bg) f (kóla)
• Burmese: ကား (my) (ka:), ယဉ် (my) (yany)
• Catalan: automòbil (ca) m
• Cebuano: awto
• Chinese:

  Dungan: машинэ (mašine)

  Mandarin: 汽車 (zh), 汽车 (zh) (qìchē), 車 (zh), 车 (zh) (chē), 機動車 (zh), 机动车 (zh) (jīdòngchē)

• Chukchi: ковԓёргоор (kovḷjorgoor)
• Crimean Tatar: avtomobil
• Czech: automobil (cs) m, auto (cs) n
• Danish: bil (da) c
• Dutch: automobiel (nl) m, auto (nl) m
• Esperanto: aŭtomobilo (eo), aŭto (eo)
• Estonian: auto (et)
• Finnish: auto (fi), automobiili (fi), henkilöauto (fi)
• French: voiture (fr) f, auto (fr) f, automobile (fr) f, char (fr) m (Canada)
• Galician: automóbil (gl) m
• Georgian: ავტომობილი (ka) m (avṭomobili)
• German: Automobil (de) n, Auto (de) n, Kraftfahrzeug (de) n, Personenwagen (de) m, Kraftwagen (de) m, Personenkraftwagen (de) m, PKW (de) m, Pkw (de) m, Wagen (de) m
• Greek: αυτοκίνητο (el) (aftokínito)
• Haitian Creole: otomobil
• Havasupai-Walapai-Yavapai: anbil
• Hebrew: מְכוֹנִית‎ (he) f (m'khonít)
• Hindi: मोटरवाहन (moṭarvāhan), गाड़ी (hi) f (gāṛī), कार (hi) f (kār)
• Hungarian: autó (hu), automobil (hu), személygépkocsi (hu)
• Icelandic: bifreið (is) f
• Ido: automobilo (io)
• Indonesian: otomobil (id)
• Interlingua: automobile, auto
• Irish: gluaisteán (ga) m, carr m, mótar m
• Italian: automobile (it) m, auto (it) m, macchina (it) f, vettura (it) f
• Japanese: 自動車 (ja) (じどうしゃ, jidōsha), 乗用車 (ja) (じょうようしゃ, jōyōsha), 四輪車 (よんりんしゃ, yonrinsha), 車 (ja) (くるま, kuruma)
• Kannada: ವಾಹನ (kn) (vāhana)
• Kazakh: автомобиль (kk) (avtomobïlʹ), машина (kk) (maşïna)
• Khmer: ឡាន (km) (laan)
• Korean: 일이 빠른 사람 (iri ppareun saram), 자동차 (ko) (jadongcha), 차 (ko) (cha)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئوتوموبیل‎ (utumubîl), ترومبێل‎ (trumbêl), سه‌یاره‌‎ (seyare)

• Kyrgyz: автомобиль (ky) (avtomobilʹ), машина (ky) (maşina)
• Lao: ລົດໃຫຍ່ (lot nyai), ລົດ (lo) (lot)
• Latvian: automobilis m, automašīna f, spēkrats m (informal)
• Lithuanian: automobilis (lt) m
• Macedonian: автомоби́л m (avtomobíl), кола f (kola)
• Malay: automobil, kereta (ms)
• Maltese: karozza (mt), vettura
• Maori: motokā
• Marathi: मोटार n (moṭār)
• Mirandese: altemoble m, carro m
• Mohawk: kà:sere
• Mongolian: автомашин (mn) (avtomašin)
• Nahuatl: tepozmalacatl (nah), teposkalnejnenki
• Navajo: chidí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bil (no) m

  Nynorsk: bil (nn) m

• Persian: خودرو‎ (fa) (xodrow), اتوموبیل‎ (fa) (otomobil), ماشین‎ (fa) (mâšin) (informal)
• Polish: samochód (pl), auto (pl) n
• Portuguese: automóvel (pt) m, carro (pt) m, veículo (pt) m, auto (pt) m
• Romanian: automobil (ro) n, mașină (ro) f
• Russian: автомоби́ль (ru) m (avtomobílʹ), автомаши́на (ru) f (avtomašína), маши́на (ru) f (mašína) (informal), авто́ (ru) n (avtó) (colloquial), та́чка (ru) f (táčka) (slang)
• Scots: motorcaur
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: аутомобил m

  Roman: automobil (sh) m

• Sinhalese: මෝටර් රථ (mōṭar ratha)
• Slovak: automobil m, auto (sk) n
• Slovene: automobil m, avto (sl) m
• Spanish: automóvil (es) m, carro (es) m, coche (es) m, auto (es) m
• Swahili: motakari bus, motokari bus, motokaa (sw) class 9/10, gari (sw) class 5/6
• Swedish: bil (sv) c
• Tagalog: awtomobil, isugang batlag, batlag
• Tajik: автомобил (avtomobil)
• Tamil: மோட்டார் (ta) (mōṭṭār)
• Tatar: автомобиль (awtomobil’)
• Telugu: మోటారు (te) (mōṭāru)
• Thai: รถยนต์ (th) (rót-yon)
• Tibetan: ཆིས་ཁྲེའེ (chis khre'e)
• Tonkawa: ˀa·cosa·nan
• Turkmen: maşyn, awtomobil (tk)
• Ukrainian: автомобі́ль (uk) m (avtomobílʹ), маши́на f (mašýna), автомаши́на (uk) f (avtomašýna), авто́ (uk) n (avtó)
• Urdu: گاڑی‎ f (gāṛī), کار‎ f (kār)
• Uyghur: ئاپتوموبىل‎ (aptomobil), ماشىنا‎‎ (mashina‎)
• Uzbek: avtomobil (uz), avtomashina (uz), mashina (uz)
• Vietnamese: xe hơi (vi)
• Volapük: motoravab (vo), tood
• Yiddish: אויטאָמאָביל‎ n (oytomobil), אויטאָ‎ m (oyto)

Verb

automobile (third-person singular simple present automobiles, present participle automobiling, simple past and past participle automobiled)

1. (intransitive, dated) To travel by automobile.

Adjective

automobile (not comparable)

1. Self-moving; self-propelled.
   • Nikola Tesla

     As early as 1898 I proposed to representatives of a large manufacturing concern the construction and public exhibition of an automobile carriage which, left to itself, would perform a great variety of operations involving something akin to judgment.

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French

Etymology

auto- +‎ mobile, as the vehicle is powered by an engine rather than pulled by horses.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.tɔ.mɔ.bil/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Homophone: automobiles
• Hyphenation: au‧to‧mo‧bile

Adjective

automobile (plural automobiles)

1. automotive

Noun

automobile f (plural automobiles)

1. automobile

   L’automobile est un moyen de déplacement pratique à la campagne, mais cher et polluant.

   The automobile is a practical means of travel in the countryside, but it's expensive and polluting.

Synonyms

• (informal) auto
• (France, informal) bagnole
• (France, informal) caisse
• (Quebec, Louisiana) char
• (France, informal) tire
• voiture

Derived terms

• automobilisable
• automobilisme
• automobiliste

Descendants

• German: Automobil
• Russian: автомоби́ль (avtomobílʹ)
  • Uyghur: ئاپتوموبىل‎ (aptomobil)

Further reading

• “automobile” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Diversi tipi di automobile.

Etymology

auto- +‎ mobile

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /au.to.ˈmɔ.bi.le/, [au̯.t̪o.ˈmɔː.bi.le]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: au‧to‧mò‧bi‧le
• Rhymes: -ɔbile

Noun

automobile f (plural automobili)

1. automobile

Synonyms

• (automobile): auto, macchina, vettura