railway

railway

English

Etymology

rail +‎ way.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪlˌweɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (Berkshire, UK))

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪlweɪ

Noun

railway (plural railways)

1. (chiefly UK, Ireland and Commonwealth) A transport system using rails used to move passengers or goods.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎:

     That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.

2. (chiefly UK, Ireland and Commonwealth) A track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.
   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 14-15:

     His interest in railways is not the quality that marks Pearson out. Everyone was interested in railways. Over a thousand miles of them opened between 1837 and 1845, most of what would become the national network. [...] You needed an Act of Parliament to build a railway; but that wasn't very hard to obtain if you could give the appearance of adequately funded competence.

Synonyms

• (track): railroad track, railway track, railway line, rails
• (system): (US) railroad, rail
• rwy, RY, Ry., ry (abbreviations)

Derived terms

Terms derived from railway

• cog railway
• funicular railway
• heritage railway
• light railway
• mineral railway
• model railway
• rack railway
• railwayana
• railway carriage
• railway company
• railwayist
• railwayless
• railway line
• railwayman
• railway station
• railway time
• railway track
• Trans-Siberian Railway
• underground railway

Translations

track, consisting of parallel rails

Abkhaz: аиҳаамҩа (ajḥaamjʷa) Afrikaans: spoorweg (af) Arabic: سِكَّة حَدِيدِيَّة‎ f (sikka ḥadīdiyya), سِكَّة الْحَدِيد‎ f (sikkat al-ḥadīd) Armenian: երկաթուղի (hy) (erkatʿułi) Azerbaijani: dəmiryol Belarusian: каляя́ f (kaljajá), чыгу́начны пуць m (čyhúnačny pucʹ) Bulgarian: железопъ́тна ли́ния f (železopǎ́tna línija), ре́лсов път m (rélsov pǎt) Chechen: эчиг некъ (ečig neqʼ) Cherokee: ᏔᎷᎩᏍᎩ ᏅᏃᎯ (talugisgi nvnohi) Chinese: Mandarin: 鐵路／铁路 (zh) (tiělù), 鐵道／铁道 (zh) (tiědào), 火車道／火车道 (zh) (huǒchēdào) Cantonese: 鐵路 (tit3 lou6), 火車路 (fo2 ce1 lou6) Hakka: 鐵路 (thiet-lu), 火車路 (fó-chhâ-lu) Min Bei: 火車墿 (hǒ-chiá-diō̤), 鐵墿 (tiĕ-diō̤) Min Nan: 鐵枝路 (zh-min-nan), 铁枝路 (thih-ki-lō͘) Wu: 鐵路, 铁路 (thiq lu) Czech: kolej (cs) f, železnice (cs) f, trať (cs) f Danish: jernbane (da) c Dutch: spoorweg (nl) m, ijzerenweg m, ijzerbaan f Esperanto: fervojo (eo) Estonian: raudtee (et) Finnish: rata (fi), junarata (fi), rautatie (fi) French: chemin de fer (fr) m, réseau ferroviaire m, voie ferrée (fr) f Galician: vía férrea f Georgian: ლიანდაგი (liandagi) German: Eisenbahnlinie (de) f, Gleis (de) n Greek: σιδηρόδρομος (el) m (sidiródromos) Hebrew: מסילת ברזל \\ מְסִלַּת בַּרְזֶל‎ (he) f (m'silát barzél) Hungarian: sín (hu), vasút (hu), vasútvonal (hu) Icelandic: járnbraut (is) f, lestarspor n, járnbani m, járngata Indonesian: rel (id) Interlingua: ferrovia Irish: bóthar iarainn m, iarnród m Italian: binario (it) m, rotaia (it) f, strada ferrata f, ferrovia (it) f Japanese: 線路 (ja) (せんろ, senro) Korean: 철도(鐵道) (ko) (cheoldo), 선로(線路) (ko) (seollo) Latvian: dzelzceļš m Macedonian: пруга f (pruga), железница f (železnica) Malay: jalur kereta api Maori: rerewē, ara rerewē Maranao: rilis Mari: Eastern Mari: кӱртньыгорно (kürtnʹygorno) Mongolian: Cyrillic: төмөр зам (mn) (tömör zam) Navajo: béésh bitiin, kǫʼ naʼałbąąsii bitiin Norman: c'mîn d'fé m North Frisian: Iirsenbaan Norwegian: Bokmål: jernbane (no) m Nynorsk: jernbane m or f, jarnbane m or f Ojibwe: (please verify) ishkodewidaabaanikana Plautdietsch: Bon f, Iesabon f Polish: kolej (pl) f, linia kolejowa (pl) f Portuguese: ferrovia (pt) f, via-férrea f, caminhos-de-ferro, estrada-de-ferro f Romanian: cale ferată (ro) f, rețea feroviară f Russian: желе́зная доро́га (ru) f (želéznaja doróga), колея́ (ru) f (kolejá), железнодоро́жный путь m (železnodoróžnyj putʹ) Scottish Gaelic: rathad-iarainn m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: жѐлезница f, жѐљезница f Roman: žèleznica f, žèljeznica (sh) f Slovak: železnica f Spanish: vía férrea f, ferrocarril (es) m, (Latin America) riel (es) m, (Spain) vía (es) f Swedish: järnväg (sv) c, järnvägsspår (sv) n, räls (sv) c Tagalog: perokaril, daangbakal Tibetan: ལྕགས་ལམ (lcags lam) Turkish: demir yolu (tr), şimendifer (tr) Ukrainian: ко́лія f (kólija), залізни́чна ко́лія f (zaliznýčna kólija) Vietnamese: đường sắt (vi) Vilamovian: ban Welsh: rheilffordd West Frisian: spoarwei c Yoruba: ọ̀nà ojú irin, rélùwéè

transport system using these rails

Abkhaz: аиҳаамҩа (ajḥaamjʷa) Albanian: hekurudhë (sq) f Arabic: سِكَّة حَدِيدِيَّة‎ f (sikka ḥadīdiyya) Armenian: երկաթուղի (hy) (erkatʿułi) Azerbaijani: dəmir yolu Basque: burdinbide Belarusian: жале́зная даро́га f (žaljéznaja daróha), чыгу́нка f (čyhúnka) Bengali: রেলপথ (relôpôthô) Bulgarian: желе́зница (bg) f (želéznica) Burmese: သံလမ်း (my) (samlam:), မီးရထား (my) (mi:ra.hta:) Chinese: Mandarin: 鐵路／铁路 (zh) (tiělù), 鐵道／铁道 (zh) (tiědào), 火車道／火车道 (zh) (huǒchēdào) Cantonese: 鐵路 (tit3 lou6), 火車路 (fo2 ce1 lou6) Hakka: 鐵路 (thiet-lu), 火車路 (fó-chhâ-lu) Min Bei: 火車墿 (hǒ-chiá-diō̤), 鐵墿 (tiĕ-diō̤) Min Nan: 鐵枝路 (zh-min-nan), 铁枝路 (thih-ki-lō͘) Wu: 鐵路, 铁路 (thiq lu) Czech: železnice (cs) f Danish: jernbane (da) c Dutch: spoorwegen (nl) pl Esperanto: fervojo (eo) Estonian: raudtee (et) Farefare: zirgabãŋa Finnish: rautatie (fi), rautatiet (fi) pl French: chemin de fer (fr) m Galician: ferrocarril m Georgian: რკინიგზა (rḳinigza) German: Eisenbahn (de) f, Bahn (de) f Greek: σιδηρόδρομος (el) m (sidiródromos) Hebrew: מסילת ברזל‎ (he) f (mesilát barzél), מסילת רכבת‎ f (mesilát rakévet) Hindi: रेलवे (hi) f (relve) Hungarian: vasút (hu) Icelandic: járnbraut (is) f Indonesian: jalur kereta api Irish: iarnród m Italian: ferrovia (it) f Japanese: 鉄道 (ja) (てつどう, tetsudō) Javanese: sepur (jv) Kazakh: темір жол (kk) (temır jol) Khmer: ផ្លូវដែក (phləw daek), អយបថ (ʼaʼyĕəʼbɑt), អយស្ម័យយាន (ʼaʼyaʼsmay yiən) Korean: 철도(鐵道) (ko) (cheoldo) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: rêasin (ku) Kyrgyz: темир жол (temir jol) Lao: ທາງລົດໄຟ (thāng lot fai), ລົດໄຟ (lo) (lot fai) Latin: ferrivia f Latvian: dzelzceļš m Lithuanian: geležinkelis m Luxembourgish: Eisebunn f Macedonian: железница f (železnica) Malay: jalur kereta api Maori: rerewē Mongolian: Cyrillic: төмөр зам (mn) (tömör zam) Navajo: béésh ńtʼiʼ, béésh bitiin Norman: c'mîn d'fé m Northern Sami: ruovdemáđii, ruovdegeaidnu, ruovdeluodda Norwegian: Bokmål: jernbane (no) m Nynorsk: jarnbane m or f, jernbane m or f Ojibwe: (please verify) ishkodewidaabaan, (please verify) mashkodewidaabaan Ossetian: ӕфсӕнвӕндаг (æfsænvændag) Pashto: اوسپنليکه‎ f (osрənlíka), خط آهن‎ m (xte āhán) Persian: راه‌آهن‎ (râh âhan) (also: راه آهن‎ (fa)) Polish: kolej (pl) f, kolej żelazna f Portuguese: ferrovia (pt) Romanian: căi ferate f pl Russian: желе́зная доро́га (ru) f (želéznaja doróga) Scottish Gaelic: rèile f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: жѐлезница f, жѐљезница f Roman: žèleznica f, žèljeznica (sh) f Slovak: železnica f, železničná trať f Slovene: železniško n Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: zeleznica f Spanish: ferrocarril (es) m Swedish: järnväg (sv) c Tagalog: daangbakal Tajik: роҳи оҳан (rohi ohan), роҳ оҳан (roh ohan) Tatar: тимер юл (timer yul) Telugu: రైల్వే (railvē) Thai: การรถไฟ (gaan-rót-fai), รถไฟ (th) (rót-fai) Tibetan: ལྕགས་ལམ (lcags lam) Turkish: demir yolu (tr), şimendifer (tr) Turkmen: demir ýoly Ukrainian: залізни́ця f (zaliznýcja) Urdu: ریلوے‎ f (relve), راہ آہن‎ f (râh-âhan) Uyghur: تۆمۈر يول‎ (tömür yol) Uzbek: temir yoʻl (uz) Vietnamese: đường sắt (vi), đường ray (vi) Welsh: rheilffordd West Frisian: spoarwei c Yakut: тимир суол (timir suol) Yoruba: rélùwéè

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: (please verify) fervojo (eo) Indonesian: (please verify) kereta api Interlingua: (please verify) ferrovia Veps: (please verify) raudte Volapük: (please verify) ferodarutaveg (vo) Welsh: (please verify) rheilffordd f

See also

• subway
• tramway
• permanent way
• streetcar
• monorail
• trains

• railbuff (railway enthusiast)

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɛ.lwɛ/, /ʁe.lwɛ/

Noun

railway m (plural railways)

1. (Anglicism) railway

   Synonym: chemin de fer

Further reading

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