Etymology
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automobile (adj.)

"self-moving, self-movable," 1883, in reference to electric traction cars, from French automobile (adj.), 1861, a hybrid from Greek autos "self" (see auto-) + French mobile "moving," from Latin mobilis "movable" (see mobile (adj.)).

automobile (n.)

"self-propelled motor vehicle," 1895, from French automobile, short for véhicule automobile (see automobile (adj.)). The modern Greek calls it autokineto "moved of itself." The French word had competition in the early years from locomobile; in English other early forms were motorcar and autocar (q.v.). An electrical car was an electromobile (1899).

Entries linking to automobile

motorcar (n.)

also motor-car, "horseless carriage, wheeled vehicle which carries its own propelling mechanism," 1895 from motor (n.) + car.

autocar (n.)

"car which contains in itself a motor and a source of power," 1895, from auto- + car.

Which is it to be? We observe that the London Times has lent the weight of its authority to the word "autocar," which it now prints without the significant inverted commas but with a hyphen, "auto-car." We believe that the vocable originated with a journal called the Hardwareman, which succeeded in obtaining the powerful support of the Engineer for its offspring. As for ourselves, being linguistic purists, we do not care for hybrid constructions—"auto" is Greek, while "car" is Latin and Celtic. At the same time, such clumsy phrases as "horseless carriages," "mechanical road carriages," and "self-propelled vehicles" are not meeting with general favour. Why not therefore adopt the philogically sound "motor-car," which could be run into a single word, "motorcar"? [The Electrical Engineer, Dec. 20, 1895]

Compare automobile.

updated on September 30, 2022

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Dictionary entries near automobile

automation

automatism

automatization

automatize

automaton

automobile

automotive

autonomic

autonomous

autonomy

autopathy

© 2001-2022 Douglas Harper