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car

(kär)

1. An automobile.

2. A vehicle, such as a streetcar, that runs on rails: a railroad car.

3. A boxlike enclosure for people or cargo on a conveyance: an elevator car.

4. The part of a balloon or airship that carries people or cargo.

5. Archaic A chariot, carriage, or cart.

[Middle English carre, cart, from Old North French, from Latin carra, pl. of carrus, carrum, a Gallic type of wagon; see kers- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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