autobus

See also: Autobus and autobús

English

WOTD – 13 July 2022

Etymology

An autobus (sense 1) in Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France, in 1966.

The autobus (sense 2) at Stage 10 of the 2005 Tour de France.

From auto- (prefix meaning ‘self’, in the sense of being self-propelled) +‎ bus. Sense 2 (“large group of cyclists who have fallen behind the peloton”) is borrowed from French autobus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːtə(ʊ)bʌs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔtoʊˌbʌs/, [ˈɔɾə-]
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑtoʊˌbʌs/, [ˈɑɾə-]
• Hyphenation: au‧to‧bus

Noun

autobus (plural autobuses or autobusses)

1. (road transport, dated) A bus that is a motor vehicle, as opposed to earlier horse-drawn buses.
2. (by extension, cycle racing) A large group of cyclists who have fallen behind the peloton (“main group of riders”) in a race.

   Synonyms: groupetto, gruppetto, laughing group

Translations

bus that is a motor vehicle

• Albanian: autobus (sq) m
• Arabic: أُتُوبُوس m (ʔutūbūs), أُتُوبِيس m (ʔutūbīs)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܘܿܛܘܿܒܘܼܣ m (ōṭōbūs), ܡܵܘܒܠܵܢܬܵܐ f (māwblāntā)
• Azerbaijani: avtobus (az)
• Basque: autobus (eu)
• Belarusian: аўто́бус (be) m (aŭtóbus)
• Bezhta: автобус (avtobus)
• Crimean Tatar: avtobus
• Czech: autobus (cs) m
• Dutch: autobus (nl) m
• Esperanto: aŭtobuso (eo)
• French: autobus (fr) m
• Galician: autobús m
• German: Autobus (de) m
• Greek: οτομπίς n (otompís) (Egyptiot dialect), οτομπούς n (otompoús) (Egyptiot dialect)
• Indonesian: otobus (id)
• Italian: autobus (it) m
• Karakalpak: аўтобус
• Khmer: អូតូប៊ុស (ʼoutoubuh)
• Latvian: autobuss m
• Malagasy: aotobosy (mg)
• Persian: اتوبوس (fa) (otobus)
• Polish: autobus (pl) m
• Romanian: autobus (ro) n, autobuz (ro) n
• Russian: авто́бус (ru) m (avtóbus)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ауто́бус m

  Roman: autóbus (sh) m

• Sicilian: autubbussu m
• Slovak: autobus (sk) m
• Slovene: ȃvtobus (sl) m
• Spanish: autobús (es) m (Spain, Venezuela)
• Turkish: otobüs (tr)
• Uzbek: avtobus (uz)
• Vietnamese: ô tô buýt (vi)
• Yiddish: ויטאָבוס m (oytobus)

large group of cyclists who have fallen behind the peloton

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: （自行車比賽）落後的集團 / （自行车比赛）落后的集团 ((zìxíngchēbǐsài) luòhòudejítuán)

• Czech: grupeto (cs) n
• Danish: gruppetto
• Dutch: bus (nl) m, gruppetto ?
• Finnish: gruppetto (fi)
• French: autobus (fr) f, gruppetto (fr) m
• German: Gruppetto (de) n
• Hebrew: גרופטו ?
• Italian: gruppetto (it) m
• Japanese: グルペット
• Latvian: autobuss m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gruppetto ?

Further reading

• autobus (cycling) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• glossary of cycling on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “autobus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• autosub

Albanian

Etymology

Internationalism, compare Italian autobus.

Noun

autobús m (plural autobúsë, definite autobúsi)

1. bus

References

• “autobus”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

Basque

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

autobus inan

1. bus

Declension

Declension of autobus (inanimate, ending in consonant)

	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	autobus	autobusa	autobusak
ergative	autobusek	autobusak	autobusek
dative	autobusi	autobusari	autobusei
genitive	autobusen	autobusaren	autobusen
comitative	autobusekin	autobusarekin	autobusekin
causative	autobusengatik	autobusarengatik	autobusengatik
benefactive	autobusentzat	autobusarentzat	autobusentzat
instrumental	autobusez	autobusaz	autobusez
inessive	autobusetan	autobusean	autobusetan
locative	autobusetako	autobuseko	autobusetako
allative	autobusetara	autobusera	autobusetara
terminative	autobusetaraino	autobuseraino	autobusetaraino
directive	autobusetarantz	autobuserantz	autobusetarantz
destinative	autobusetarako	autobuserako	autobusetarako
ablative	autobusetatik	autobusetik	autobusetatik
partitive	autobusik	—	—
prolative	autobustzat	—	—

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈau̯tobus]

Noun

autobus m inan

1. bus, coach, omnibus
2. woodlouse

Declension

Declension of autobus (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	autobus	autobusy
genitive	autobusu	autobusů
dative	autobusu	autobusům
accusative	autobus	autobusy
vocative	autobuse	autobusy
locative	autobuse, autobusu	autobusech
instrumental	autobusem	autobusy

Derived terms

• autobusový

Further reading

• “autobus”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “autobus”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “autobus”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Dutch

Etymology

From English autobus or French autobus. Equivalent to auto +‎ bus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑu̯.toːˌbʏs/, /ˈoː.toːˌbʏs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: au‧to‧bus

Noun

autobus m (plural autobussen, diminutive autobusje n)

1. bus, coach (vehicle)

Descendants

• → Indonesian: otobus

French

Etymology

Coined in Paris in 1907 as a compound of automobile +‎ omnibus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.tɔ.bys/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

autobus m (plural autobus)

1. bus, coach (vehicle)

Derived terms

• autobus à impériale
• autobus à plate-forme

Descendants

• → Catalan: autobús
• → German: Autobus
• → Greek: οτομπούς (otompoús), οτομπίς (otompís) (Egyptiot Dialect)
• → Hebrew: אוֹטוֹבּוּס (ótobus)
• → Persian: اتوبوس (otobus)
• → Polish: autobus
  • → Belarusian: аўтобус (aŭtóbus)
• → Romanian: autobuz
• → Russian: авто́бус (avtóbus) (see there for further descendants)
• → Spanish: autobús
• → Turkish: otobüs

See also

• autocar

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French autobus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaw.to.bus/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (un'autobus):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -awtobus
• Hyphenation: àu‧to‧bus

Noun

autobus m (invariable)

1. bus

   Synonym: pullman

Occitan

Alternative forms

• autobús

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

autobus m (plural autobus) (Limousin)

1. bus

   Synonym: autobussa

2. motorcoach

   Synonym: autocar

Further reading

• Yves Lavalade, Dictionnaire d'usage occitan/français - Limousin, Marche, Périgord, Institut d'Estudis Occitans dau Lemosin, 2010, →ISBN; page 94

Polish

autobus

Etymology

Internationalism; compare French autobus, German Autobus, Russian авто́бус (avtóbus). By surface analysis, auto- +‎ bus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /awˈtɔ.bus/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔbus
• Syllabification: au‧to‧bus

Noun

autobus m animal or m inan (diminutive autobusik, related adjective autobusowy)

1. bus (motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of people along roads)

Declension

Declension of autobus

	singular	plural
nominative	autobus	autobusy
genitive	autobusa/autobusu	autobusów
dative	autobusowi	autobusom
accusative	autobusa/autobus	autobusy
instrumental	autobusem	autobusami
locative	autobusie	autobusach
vocative	autobusie	autobusy

Derived terms

(nouns):

• autobus szynowy
• bus
• e-autobus

Descendants

• → Belarusian: аўтобус (aŭtóbus)

Further reading

• autobus in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• autobus in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Noun

autobus n (plural autobuse)

1. Alternative form of autobuz

Declension

Declension of autobus

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	autobus	autobusul		autobuse	autobusele
genitive-dative	autobus	autobusului		autobuse	autobuselor
vocative	autobusule			autobuselor

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From English autobus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /autǒːbus/
• Hyphenation: a‧u‧to‧bus

Noun

autóbus m (Cyrillic spelling ауто́бус)

1. bus

Declension

Declension of autobus

	singular	plural
nominative	autobus	autobusi
genitive	autobusa	autobusa
dative	autobusu	autobusima
accusative	autobus	autobuse
vocative	autobuse	autobusi
locative	autobusu	autobusima
instrumental	autobusom	autobusima

Derived terms

• autobuska stanica (Serbia)
• autobusna stanica (Croatia)

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈau̯tɔbus/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

autobus m inan (relational adjective autobusový)

1. a bus

Declension

Declension of autobus (pattern dub)

	singular	plural
nominative	autobus	autobusy
genitive	autobusa, autobusu	autobusov
dative	autobusu	autobusom
accusative	autobus	autobusy
locative	autobuse	autobusoch
instrumental	autobusom	autobusmi

Related terms

• mikrobus
• trolejbus

See also

• električka

Further reading

• “autobus”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025