chauffeur

chauffeur

See also: Chauffeur

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French chauffeur.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃɒˈfɜː/, /ˈʃəʊfə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃoʊˈfɝ/, /ˈʃoʊfɚ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Homophone: shofar (some pronunciations of both words)
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Noun

chauffeur (plural chauffeurs)

1. A person employed to drive a private motor car or a hired car of executive or luxury class (like a limousine).
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 3, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     He fell into a reverie, a most dangerous state of mind for a chauffeur, since a fall into reverie on the part of a driver may mean a fall into a ravine on the part of the machine.

   • 1994, Juicy‎ (Hip Hop), spoken by The Notorious B.I.G., 2:40 from the start:

     Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis
     When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this
     50-inch screen, money-green leather sofa
     Got two rides, a limousine with a chauffeur

2. (firefighting) The driver of a fire truck.

Usage notes

As the French word chauffeur has masculine gender, a female chauffeur is sometimes called a chauffeuse or, jocularly, a chauffeuress.

Hypernyms

• (both senses): driver

Derived terms

• chauffeur driver (synonym)
• chauffeuress
• chauffeurless
• chauffeurship

 

Translations

person employed to drive a motor car

Albanian: shofer (sq) m Arabic: سائِق‎ m (sāʾiq) Hijazi Arabic: سَوَّاق‎ m (sawwāg) Armenian: ավտովարորդ (hy) (avtovarord) Aromanian: shufer m Azerbaijani: sürücü (az), şofer Belarusian: шафёр m (šafjór), кіро́ўца m (kiróŭca), вадзі́цель m (vadzícjelʹ) Bulgarian: шофьо́р (bg) m (šofjór) Catalan: xofer (ca) m, xòfer (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 司機／司机 (zh) (sījī) Czech: šofér (cs) m, řidič (cs) m Danish: chauffør (da) c Dutch: privéchauffeur (nl) m Esperanto: ŝoforo, ŝoforino (female) Estonian: autojuht Faroese: bilstjóri m, bilførari m, sjaførur m (colloquial) Finnish: autonkuljettaja (fi), kuljettaja (fi) French: chauffeur (fr) m, chauffeuse (fr) f Galician: chofer m Georgian: მძღოლი (mʒɣoli) German: Chauffeur (de) m, Chauffeurin (de) f, Chauffeuse (de) f (Swiss German), Berufschauffeur m, Berufschauffeurin f, Schofför (de) m (obsolete), Schofförin (de) f (obsolete) Hungarian: sofőr (hu) Iban: deriba Icelandic: bílstjóri m, einkabílstjóri m Ido: motoristo Indonesian: supir (id), sopir (id) Italian: chauffeur (it) m, autista (it) m or f Japanese: 運転手 (ja) (うんてんしゅ, untenshu) Kazakh: шопыр (şopyr), жүргізуші (kk) (jürgızuşı) Korean: 운전사(運轉士) (ko) (unjeonsa), 기사(技士) (ko) (gisa) Kyrgyz: шофёр (ky) (şofyor) Latvian: vadītājs (lv) m, šoferis m Lithuanian: vairuotojas m, šoferis m Lombard: çofœr, autista Macedonian: шо́фер m (šófer), во́зач m (vózač) Malay: pemandu, drebar, supir Maltese: xufier m, xufiera f Norwegian: Bokmål: sjåfør (no) m Nynorsk: sjåfør m Occitan: chòfer, chofer Persian: شوفر‎ (fa) (šofer) Polish: szofer (pl) m, szoferka (pl) f Portuguese: motorista (pt) m or f, chofer (pt) m or f Romanian: șofer (ro) m Russian: шофёр (ru) m (šofjór), персона́льный води́тель m (personálʹnyj vodítelʹ), води́тель (ru) m (vodítelʹ), води́тельница (ru) f (vodítelʹnica) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: возач m, возачица f Roman: vòzāč (sh) m, vozàčica (sh) f Sinhalese: රියදුරා (riyadurā) Slovak: šofér m, vodič m Slovene: šofer m, voznik (sl) m Spanish: chófer (es) m, chofer (es) m Swedish: chaufför (sv) c Tajik: шофёр (tg) (šofyor) Thai: คนขับ (kon-kàp) Turkish: şoför (tr), sürücü (tr) Turkmen: şofýor Ukrainian: шофе́р m (šofér), во́дій m (vódij) Uzbek: shofyor (uz) Vietnamese: tài xế (vi) Volapük: joför (vo), hijoför (male), jijoför (female) Yiddish: שאָפֿער‎ m (shofer), שאָפֿערשע‎ f (shofershe)

fire truck driver

Verb

chauffeur (third-person singular simple present chauffeurs, present participle chauffeuring, simple past and past participle chauffeured)

1. (intransitive) To be, or act as, a chauffeur (driver of a motor car).
2. (transitive) To transport (someone) in a motor vehicle.

   Synonyms: transport, bring, shuttle

Translations

intransitive: to be, or act as a chauffeur

Finnish: ajaa (fi) German: chauffieren (de)

transitive: to transport someone in a motor car

Finnish: kuljettaa (fi), ajaa (fi), kyyditä (fi) German: chauffieren (de), herumfahren (colloquial)

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French chauffeur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃoːˈføːr/, /ʃɑu̯ˈføːr/

• chauffeur

  (file)

• Hyphenation: chauf‧feur
• Rhymes: -øːr

Noun

chauffeur m (plural chauffeurs, diminutive chauffeurtje n, feminine chauffeuse)

1. driver (person who drives a motorized vehicle, such as a car or a bus; usually to transport others or in a professional capacity, often both)

Derived terms

• buschauffeur
• camionchauffeur
• taxichauffeur
• vrachtwagenchauffeur

Descendants

• → Aukan: safeli
• → Caribbean Javanese: sopir
• → Indonesian: sopir
• → West Frisian: sjauffeur

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French

Etymology

chauffer (“to warm up”) +‎ -eur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃo.fœʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -œʁ

Noun

chauffeur m (plural chauffeurs, feminine chauffeuse)

1. (rail transport) stoker; fireman
2. driver

   chauffeur de taxi

   taxi driver

3. chauffeur (private driver)

Derived terms

• chauffard

Descendants

Descendants

• → Catalan: xofer, xòfer
• → Czech: šofér
• → Danish: chauffør
• → Dutch: chauffeur
  • → Aukan: safeli
  • → Caribbean Javanese: sopir
  • → Indonesian: sopir
  • → West Frisian: sjauffeur
• → English: chauffeur
• ⇒ Esperanto: ŝoforo
• → German: Chauffeur
• → Ladino: shofer, shofor
• → Moroccan Arabic: شيفور‎
• → Norwegian: sjåfør
• → Persian: شوفر‎ (šufer)
• → Polish: szofer
• → Portuguese: chofer, chauffeur
• → Romanian: șofer
• → Russian: шофёр (šofjór)
• → Serbo-Croatian: шо̀фе̄р m
• → Spanish: chofer
• → Swedish: chaufför
• → Thai: โชเฟอร์ (choo-fə̂ə)
• → Turkish: şoför

Further reading

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

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Spanish

Noun

chauffeur m or f (plural chauffeurs or chauffeur)

1. Alternative form of chofer