Use car for a small passenger road vehicle. Automobile is more formal, auto is chiefly North American, and vehicle is broader because it also covers buses, trucks, and motorcycles.
Use car for a small passenger road vehicle. Automobile is more formal, auto is chiefly North American, and vehicle is broader because it also covers buses, trucks, and motorcycles.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| She bought car yesterday. | She bought a car yesterday. |
| We went there by the car. | We went there by car. |
| He drives his car to home. | He drives his car home. |
Use car for a rail vehicle chiefly in North American English, especially in compounds such as dining car and freight car. British English usually prefers carriage, coach, or wagon according to the type.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The train has ten car. | The train has ten cars. |
| We ate in the food car. | We ate in the dining car. |
Use car in technical contexts where the larger system is already named, as in elevator car or the car of an airship. Cab is common for an elevator enclosure, while gondola is usual for the basket or compartment under a balloon.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The elevator car rose up to the fifth floor. | The elevator car rose to the fifth floor. |
Use car in Lisp for the first component of a cons cell. It is often described as the head of a list, but car is defined on cons cells rather than as a general sequence operation. First can be clearer when code is specifically working with lists.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| (car) my-list | (car my-list) |
| Use car to return the rest of the list. | Use cdr to return the rest of the list. |
The road-vehicle sense is the everyday default. Railway, engineering, and Lisp uses normally supply enough context to identify their specialist meanings.
Writing by the car for the mode of travel is usually wrong. Use by car, but keep the article when referring to a particular vehicle.
From Middle English carre, borrowed from Anglo-French carre or charre, ultimately from Late Latin carra, the plural of carrum, meaning a vehicle or cart.
What does car usually mean?
It usually means a small motor vehicle designed mainly to carry passengers on roads.
Can car mean part of a train?
Yes. Especially in North American English, a car is a rail vehicle or one section of a train.
What is an elevator car?
It is the compartment that moves in the shaft and carries passengers or goods.
What does car do in Lisp?
It returns the first component of a cons cell, commonly the first element of a non-empty list.
Should I write by car or by the car?
Use by car for the mode of travel. Use the car when referring to a particular vehicle.
Where does the word car come from?
It came through Middle English and Anglo-French from a Late Latin word for a cart or vehicle.