train

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun public transport provided by a line of railway cars coupled together and drawn by a locomotive
  2. noun a sequentially ordered set of things or events or ideas in which each successive member is related to the preceding
  3. noun a procession (of wagons or mules or camels) traveling together in single file

Etymology

From Middle English trayne (“train”), from Old French train (“a delay, a drawing out”), from traïner (“to pull out, to draw”), from Vulgar Latin *traginō, from *tragō, from Latin trahō (“to pull, to draw”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to pull, draw, drag”). The verb was derived from the noun in Middle English. For the meaning to teach compare typologically Russian ната́скивать (natáskivatʹ) (akin to тащи́ть (taščítʹ)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

railroad train

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