taxi

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
  2. verb travel slowly
  3. verb ride in a taxicab

Etymology

Shortened from taximeter cab, taximeter (“automatic meter that records distance and fare”) from French taximètre, from German Taxameter (whence also English taxameter), coined from Medieval Latin taxa (“tax, charge”). More at tax, task. The aviation sense originally derived from a slang term for training aircraft used for practicing ground operations, which were said to drive around the airfield like a taxicab, and subsequently applied to all aircraft ground movements.

In classic literature

Synonyms

cab, hack, taxicab

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