locomotive

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.[1]

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)

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “locomotive”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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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.

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Italian

Noun

locomotive f

1. plural of locomotiva