"bus" in seven languages
Meaningbus
Spanish
/autoˈbus/
masc.borrowed · French autobus
In Latin America also camión (Mexico), colectivo, guagua (Caribbean, Canaries).
French
/bys/
masc.learned
Short for autobus; a coach is un car.
Italian
/ˈautobus/
masc.borrowed · French autobus
Stressed on the first syllable; also pullman for a coach.
Portuguese
/ˈonibus/
masc.borrowed · French omnibus
Brazil kept the full omnibus; European Portuguese says autocarro.
Romanian
/autoˈbuz/
neut.borrowed · French autobus
plural: autobuze
Catalan
/əwtuˈbus/
masc.borrowed · French autobus
English
/bʌs/
from Latin/French · French omnibus
The Latin ancestor
OMNIBUS‘for everyone (dative plural of OMNIS)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A Latin dative, 'for all', named the first public horse coaches in 1820s France; bus is just its last syllable — a Latin ending that became a word.
English relatives: omnibus, bus
Learn it
In a sentence
- esVoy al trabajo en autobús.
- frJe vais au travail en bus.
- itVado al lavoro in autobus.
- ptVou de ônibus para o trabalho.
- roMerg la serviciu cu autobuzul.
- caVaig a la feina amb autobús.
- enI take the bus to work.
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