embark

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French embarquer, from em- + barque (“small ship”). Compare with Portuguese embarcar, Spanish abarcar.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈbɑːk/, /ɛmˈbɑːk/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈbɑɹk/, /ɛmˈbɑɹk/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
• Hyphenation: em‧bark

Verb

embark (third-person singular simple present embarks, present participle embarking, simple past and past participle embarked)

1. To get on a boat or ship or (outside the USA) an aeroplane.

   All passengers please embark now.

   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

     It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

2. To start, begin.

   Phil embarked on his journey yesterday.

3. (transitive) To cause to go on board a vessel or boat; to put on shipboard.
4. (transitive) To engage, enlist, or invest (as persons, money, etc.) in any affair.

   He embarked his fortune in trade.

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:

     It was the reputation of the sect upon which St. Paul embarked his salvation.

   • 1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter‎^[1]:

     Nor seek to get his patron's favour, by embarking himself in the factions of the family; to enquire after domestic simulties, their sports or affections.

Synonyms

• (on a boat or ship): make sail, take shipping (archaic)

Antonyms

• disembark

Derived terms

• embarkation
• disembarkation
• disembarkee
• re-embark, reembark

Translations

to get on a boat

• Arabic: صَعِدَ (ṣaʕida)
• Armenian: նավ նստել (nav nstel)
• Basque: itsasoratu
• Bulgarian: качвам се на кораб (kačvam se na korab)
• Catalan: embarcar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 登船 (dēngchuán), 上船 (zh) (shàngchuán), 乘船 (zh) (chéngchuán)

• Czech: nalodit, nalodit se
• Esperanto: enŝipiĝi
• Finnish: nousta (fi)
• French: monter (fr), embarquer (fr)
• Galician: embarcar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: einschiffen (de), an Bord gehen
• Greek: επιβιβάζομαι (el) (epivivázomai), μπαρκάρω (el) (barkáro)
• Hungarian: felszáll (hu), beszáll (hu)
• Italian: imbarcare (it)
• Japanese: 乗船する (ja) (じょうせんする, jōsen suru), 乗る (ja) (のる, noru)
• Khmer: ជិះ (km) (cih)
• Korean: 타다 (ko) (tada)
• Manx: cur er boayrd
• Maori: eke
• Polish: ambarkować się impf (archaic), wejść na pokład
• Portuguese: embarcar (pt)
• Romanian: îmbarca (ro)
• Russian: сесть на кора́бль pf (sestʹ na koráblʹ), сади́ться на кора́бль impf (sadítʹsja na koráblʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: ukrcati (sh) pf
• Spanish: embarcar (es)
• Swedish: embarkera (sv), ombordstiga (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: binmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: lên tàu

to start

• Bulgarian: предприемам (bg) (predpriemam)
• Dutch: beginnen (nl), starten (nl)
• Finnish: aloittaa (fi), lähteä (fi)
• German: beginnen (de), antreten (de)
• Hungarian: nekilát (hu), kezd (hu), elkezd (hu), megkezd (hu), hozzáfog (hu), belefog (hu), nekifog (hu), belevág (hu), nekivág (hu)
• Italian: imbarcare (it), iniziare (it), imbarcarsi (it), cacciarsi (it), impegolarsi
• Maori: hikihiki
• Portuguese: começar (pt)
• Russian: начина́ть (ru) impf (načinátʹ), нача́ть (ru) pf (načátʹ)
• Spanish: embarcarse (es)
• Swedish: begynna (sv), påbörja (sv)
• Tocharian B: mit-

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Maori: ^{(please verify)} eke

Anagrams

• Markeb, bemark