locomotive

English

A steam locomotive.

Etymology

From French locomotif, from Latin locō (literally “from a place”) (ablative of locus (“place”)) + Vulgar Latin mōtivus (“moving”) (see motive).

In the rail transport sense ellipsis of locomotive (steam) engine, attested from 1814.

Pronunciation

• (Gen) IPA^(key): /ˌloʊkəˈmoʊtiv/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌləʊkəʊˈməʊtiv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

locomotive (plural locomotives)

1. (rail transport) The power unit of a train that pulls the coaches or wagons.

   Hypernym: rolling stock

2. (rare) A traction engine.
3. (slang) A cheer characterized by a slow beginning and a progressive increase in speed.
4. (archaic) Any of various early road vehicles, steam-powered, etc., forerunners of the modern car.
5. (economics) A country which drives the world economy by having a high level of imports, such as the United States.

Usage notes

Sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for train.

Synonyms

• loco

Derived terms

• condensing locomotive
• diesel locomotive
• electric locomotive
• locomotive shed
• steam locomotive
• tank locomotive
• tram locomotive

 

Translations

self-propelled vehicle that runs on rails

• Albanian: lokomotivë (sq) f
• Arabic: قَاطِرَة‎ f (qāṭira)
• Armenian: շոգեքարշ (hy) (šogekʿarš), ջերմաքարշ (hy) (ǰermakʿarš), էլեկտրաքարշ (hy) (ēlektrakʿarš), լոկոմոտիվ (hy) (lokomotiv)
• Azerbaijani: lokomotiv, parovoz
• Belarusian: лакаматы́ў m (lakamatýŭ), лякаматы́ў m (ljakamatýŭ) (Taraškievica), параво́з m (paravóz)
• Bulgarian: локомоти́в (bg) m (lokomotív)
• Burmese: မီးရထားခေါင်းတွဲ (my) (mi:ra.hta:hkaung:twai:)
• Catalan: locomotora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機車／机车 (zh) (jīchē), 火車頭／火车头 (zh) (huǒchētóu), 機車頭／机车头 (jīchētóu)

• Czech: lokomotiva (cs) f
• Danish: lokomotiv (da)
• Dutch: locomotief (nl) m, (rare) lokomotief m
• Esperanto: lokomotivo
• Estonian: vedur
• Finnish: veturi (fi)
• French: locomotive (fr) f
• Galician: locomotora (gl) f
• Georgian: ლოკომოტივი (ka) (loḳomoṭivi)
• German: Lokomotive (de) f
• Greek: ατμομηχανή (el) f (atmomichaní), μηχανή (el) f (michaní)
• Hebrew: קַטָּר‎ (he) m (katár)
• Hindi: लोकोमोटिव (lokomoṭiv)
• Hungarian: mozdony (hu)
• Ido: lokomotivo (io)
• Interlingua: locomotiva
• Italian: locomotiva (it) f, motrice (it) f
• Japanese: 汽車 (ja) (きしゃ, kisha), 機関車 (ja) (きかんしゃ, kikansha)
• Kazakh: локомотив (lokomotiv)
• Korean: 기관차 (ko) (gigwancha)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: lokomotîv (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: локомотив (lokomotiv)
• Latvian: lokomotīve f
• Lithuanian: lokomotyvas m
• Macedonian: локомоти́ва f (lokomotíva)
• Malay: lokomotif
• Maori: tima, tima rerewē
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lokomotiv n

  Nynorsk: lokomotiv n

• Persian: لوکوموتیو‎ (fa) (lokomotiv)
• Polish: lokomotywa (pl) f
• Portuguese: locomotiva (pt) f
• Romanian: locomotivă (ro) f
• Russian: локомоти́в (ru) m (lokomotív), парово́з (ru) m (parovóz), теплово́з (ru) m (teplovóz), электрово́з (ru) m (elektrovóz)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: локомоти́ва f

  Roman: lokomotíva (sh) f

• Slovak: rušeň m, lokomotíva f
• Slovene: lokomotiva (sl) f
• Spanish: locomotora (es) f
• Swedish: lok (sv) n, lokomotiv (sv) n
• Tagalog: lokomotora
• Tajik: локомотив (lokomotiv)
• Thai: รถจักร (th), หัวรถจักร
• Turkish: lokomotif (tr)
• Ukrainian: локомоти́в (uk) m (lokomotýv), парово́з m (parovóz)
• Uyghur: پاراۋۇز‎ (parawuz)
• Uzbek: lokomotiv (uz), parovoz (uz)
• Vietnamese: đầu máy
• Welsh: locomotif m or f
• Yiddish: לאָקאָמאָטיוו‎ m (lokomotiv)

Adjective

locomotive (comparative more locomotive, superlative most locomotive)

1. Of or relating to locomotion.
2. Of or relating to the power unit of a train which does not carry passengers or freight itself.

Translations

relating to locomotion

• Bulgarian: движещ се (dvižešt se)
• Catalan: locomotor
• Finnish: liikkumiskykyyn liittyvä
• Galician: locomotor
• German: lokomotorisch
• Greek: κινητήριος (el) m (kinitírios)
• Ido: lokomocala (io), lokomotiva (io)
• Italian: locomotivo
• Portuguese: locomotor (pt)
• Romanian: locomotor (ro)
• Spanish: locomotor (es)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔ.kɔ.mɔ.tiv/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

• Homophone: locomotives

Adjective

locomotive

1. feminine singular of locomotif

Noun

locomotive f (plural locomotives)

1. locomotive

Derived terms

• fumer comme une locomotive

Further reading

• “locomotive”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Noun

locomotive f

1. plural of locomotiva