railway

English

Etymology

rail +‎ way.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪlˌweɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Berkshire, UK)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪlweɪ

Noun

railway (plural railways)

1. (chiefly UK, Ireland and Commonwealth) A transport system using rails used to move passengers or goods.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎^[1]:

     That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.

2. (chiefly UK, Ireland and Commonwealth) A track, consisting of parallel rails, over which wheeled vehicles such as trains may travel.
   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 14-15:

     His interest in railways is not the quality that marks Pearson out. Everyone was interested in railways. Over a thousand miles of them opened between 1837 and 1845, most of what would become the national network. [...] You needed an Act of Parliament to build a railway; but that wasn't very hard to obtain if you could give the appearance of adequately funded competence.

Synonyms

• (track): railroad track, railway track, railway line, rails
• (system): (US) railroad, rail
• rwy, RY, Ry., ry (abbreviations)

Derived terms

Terms derived from railway

• cog railway
• funicular railway
• heritage railway
• light railway
• model railway
• rack railway
• railwayana
• railway carriage
• railway company
• railwayist
• railwayless
• railway line
• railwayman
• railway station
• railway time
• railway track
• Trans-Siberian Railway
• underground railway

Translations

track, consisting of parallel rails

• Abkhaz: аиҳаамҩа (ajḥaamjʷa)
• Afrikaans: spoorweg (af)
• Arabic: سِكَّة حَدِيدِيَّة f (sikka ḥadīdiyya), سِكَّة الْحَدِيد f (sikkat al-ḥadīd)
• Armenian: երկաթուղի (hy) (erkatʻuġi)
• Azerbaijani: dəmiryol
• Belarusian: каляя́ f (kaljajá), чыгу́начны пуць m (čyhúnačny pucʹ)
• Bulgarian: железопъ́тна ли́ния f (železopǎ́tna línija), ре́лсов път m (rélsov pǎt)
• Chechen: эчиг некъ (ečig neqʼ)
• Cherokee: ᏔᎷᎩᏍᎩ ᏅᏃᎯ (talugisgi nvnohi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鐵路／铁路 (zh) (tiělù), 铁路 (zh) (tiělù), 鐵道／铁道 (zh) (tiědào), 铁道 (zh) (tiědào), 火車道／火车道 (zh) (huǒchēdào), 火车道 (zh) (huǒchēdào)

  Cantonese: 鐵路／铁路 (tit³ lou⁶), 火車路／火车路 (fo² ce¹ lou⁶)

  Hakka: 鐵路／铁路 (thiet-lu), 火車路／火车路 (fó-chhâ-lu)

  Min Bei: 火車墿／火车𰉣 (hǒ-chiá-diō̤), 鐵墿／铁𰉣 (tiĕ-diō̤)

  Min Nan: 鐵枝路／铁枝路 (zh-min-nan), 铁枝路 (thih-ki-lō͘)

  Wu: 鐵路／铁路, 铁路 (thiq lu)

• Czech: kolej (cs) f, železnice (cs) f, trať (cs) f
• Danish: jernbane (da) c
• Dutch: spoorweg (nl) m, ijzerenweg m, ijzerbaan f
• Esperanto: fervojo (eo)
• Estonian: raudtee (et)
• Finnish: rata (fi), junarata (fi), rautatie (fi)
• French: chemin de fer (fr) m, réseau ferroviaire m, voie ferrée (fr) f
• Galician: vía férrea f
• Georgian: ლიანდაგი (liandagi)
• German: Eisenbahnlinie (de) f, Gleis (de) n
• Greek: σιδηρόδρομος (el) m (sidiródromos)
• Hebrew: מסילת ברזל \ מְסִלַּת בַּרְזֶל (he) f (m'silát barzél)
• Hungarian: sín (hu), vasút (hu), vasútvonal (hu)
• Icelandic: járnbraut (is) f, lestarspor n, járnbani m, járngata
• Indonesian: rel (id)
• Interlingua: ferrovia
• Irish: bóthar iarainn m, iarnród m
• Italian: binario (it) m, rotaia (it) f, strada ferrata f, ferrovia (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 線路 (ja) (せんろ, senro)
• Korean: 철도(鐵道) (ko) (cheoldo), 선로(線路) (ko) (seollo)
• Latvian: dzelzceļš m
• Macedonian: пруга f (pruga), железница f (železnica)
• Malay: jalur kereta api
• Maori: rerewē, ara rerewē
• Maranao: rilis
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari:

• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: төмөр зам (mn) (tömör zam)

• Navajo: béésh bitiin, kǫʼ naʼałbąąsii bitiin
• Norman: c'mîn d'fé m
• North Frisian: Iirsenbaan
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jernbane (no) m

  Nynorsk: jernbane m or f, jarnbane m or f

• Ojibwe: ^{(please verify)} ishkodewidaabaanikana
• Plautdietsch: Bon f, Iesabon f
• Polish: kolej (pl) f, linia kolejowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: ferrovia (pt) f, via-férrea f, caminho-de-ferro (pt), estrada-de-ferro f
• Romanian: cale ferată (ro) f, rețea feroviară f
• Russian: желе́зная доро́га (ru) f (želéznaja doróga), колея́ (ru) f (kolejá), железнодоро́жный путь m (železnodoróžnyj putʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: rathad-iarainn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жѐлезница f, жѐљезница f

  Roman: žèleznica f, žèljeznica (sh) f

• Slovak: železnica f
• Spanish: vía férrea f, ferrocarril (es) m, (Latin America) riel (es) m, (Spain) vía (es) f
• Swedish: järnväg (sv) c, järnvägsspår (sv) n, räls (sv) c
• Tagalog: perokaril, daangbakal
• Tibetan: ལྕགས་ལམ (lcags lam)
• Turkish: demir yolu (tr), şimendifer (tr)
• Ukrainian: ко́лія f (kólija), залізни́чна ко́лія f (zaliznýčna kólija)
• Vietnamese: đường sắt (vi)
• Vilamovian: ban
• Welsh: rheilffordd
• West Frisian: spoarwei c
• Yoruba: ọ̀nà ojú irin, rélùwéè

transport system using these rails

• Abkhaz: аиҳаамҩа (ajḥaamjʷa)
• Albanian: hekurudhë (sq) f
• Arabic: سِكَّة حَدِيدِيَّة f (sikka ḥadīdiyya)
• Armenian: երկաթուղի (hy) (erkatʻuġi)
• Azerbaijani: dəmir yolu
• Basque: burdinbide
• Belarusian: жале́зная даро́га f (žaljéznaja daróha), чыгу́нка f (čyhúnka)
• Bengali: রেলপথ (relpoth)
• Bulgarian: желе́зница (bg) f (želéznica)
• Burmese: သံလမ်း (my) (samlam:), မီးရထား (my) (mi:ra.hta:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鐵路／铁路 (zh) (tiělù), 铁路 (zh) (tiělù), 鐵道／铁道 (zh) (tiědào), 铁道 (zh) (tiědào), 火車道／火车道 (zh) (huǒchēdào), 火车道 (zh) (huǒchēdào)

  Cantonese: 鐵路／铁路 (tit³ lou⁶), 火車路／火车路 (fo² ce¹ lou⁶)

  Hakka: 鐵路／铁路 (thiet-lu), 火車路／火车路 (fó-chhâ-lu)

  Min Bei: 火車墿／火车𰉣 (hǒ-chiá-diō̤), 鐵墿／铁𰉣 (tiĕ-diō̤)

  Min Nan: 鐵枝路／铁枝路 (zh-min-nan), 铁枝路 (thih-ki-lō͘)

  Wu: 鐵路／铁路, 铁路 (thiq lu)

• Czech: železnice (cs) f
• Danish: jernbane (da) c
• Dutch: spoorwegen (nl) pl
• Esperanto: fervojo (eo)
• Estonian: raudtee (et)
• Farefare: zirgabãŋa
• Finnish: rautatie (fi), rautatiet (fi) pl
• French: chemin de fer (fr) m
• Galician: ferrocarril m
• Georgian: რკინიგზა (rḳinigza)
• German: Eisenbahn (de) f, Bahn (de) f
• Greek: σιδηρόδρομος (el) m (sidiródromos)
• Hebrew: מסילת ברזל (he) f (mesilát barzél), מסילת רכבת f (mesilát rakévet)
• Hindi: रेलवे (hi) f (relve)
• Hungarian: vasút (hu)
• Icelandic: járnbraut (is) f
• Indonesian: jalur kereta api
• Irish: iarnród m
• Italian: ferrovia (it) f
• Japanese: 鉄道 (ja) (てつどう, tetsudō)
• Javanese: sepur (jv)
• Kazakh: темір жол (kk) (temır jol)
• Khmer: ផ្លូវដែក (phləw daek), អយបថ (ʼaʼyĕəʼbɑt), អយស្ម័យយាន (ʼaʼyahsmayyiən)
• Korean: 철도(鐵道) (ko) (cheoldo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: rêasin (ku)

• Kyrgyz: темир жол (temir jol)
• Lao: ທາງລົດໄຟ (thāng lot fai), ລົດໄຟ (lo) (lot fai)
• Latin: ferrivia f
• Latvian: dzelzceļš m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: geležinkelis m
• Luxembourgish: Eisebunn f
• Macedonian: железница f (železnica)
• Malay: jalur kereta api
• Maori: rerewē
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: төмөр зам (mn) (tömör zam)

• Navajo: béésh ńtʼiʼ, béésh bitiin
• Norman: c'mîn d'fé m
• Northern Sami: ruovdemáđii, ruovdegeaidnu, ruovdeluodda
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jernbane (no) m

  Nynorsk: jarnbane m or f, jernbane m or f

• Ojibwe: ^{(please verify)} ishkodewidaabaan, ^{(please verify)} mashkodewidaabaan
• Ossetian: ӕфсӕнвӕндаг (æfsænvændag)
• Pashto: اوسپنليکه f (osрənlíka), خط آهن m (xte āhán)
• Persian: راه‌آهن (râh âhan) (also: راه آهن (fa))
• Polish: kolej (pl) f, kolej żelazna f
• Portuguese: ferrovia (pt)
• Romanian: căi ferate f pl
• Russian: желе́зная доро́га (ru) f (želéznaja doróga)
• Scottish Gaelic: rèile f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жѐлезница f, жѐљезница f

  Roman: žèleznica f, žèljeznica (sh) f

• Slovak: železnica f, železničná trať f
• Slovene: železniško n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: zeleznica f

• Spanish: ferrocarril (es) m
• Swedish: järnväg (sv) c
• Tagalog: daangbakal
• Tajik: роҳи оҳан (roh-i ohan), роҳ оҳан (roh ohan)
• Tatar: тимер юл (timer yul)
• Telugu: రైల్వే (railvē)
• Thai: การรถไฟ (gaan-rót-fai), รถไฟ (th) (rót-fai)
• Tibetan: ལྕགས་ལམ (lcags lam)
• Turkish: demir yolu (tr), şimendifer (tr)
• Turkmen: demir ýoly
• Ukrainian: залізни́ця f (zaliznýcja)
• Urdu: ریلوے f (relve), راہ آہن f (râh-âhan)
• Uyghur: تۆمۈر يول (tömür yol)
• Uzbek: temir yoʻl (uz)
• Vietnamese: đường sắt (vi), đường ray (vi)
• Welsh: rheilffordd
• West Frisian: spoarwei c
• Yakut: тимир суол (timir suol)
• Yoruba: rélùwéè

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

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} fervojo (eo)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} kereta api
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} ferrovia
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Veps: ^{(please verify)} raudte
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} ferodarutaveg (vo)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} rheilffordd f

See also

• subway
• tramway
• permanent way

• streetcar
• monorail
• trains

• railbuff (railway enthusiast)

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɛ.lwɛ/ ~ /ʁe.lwɛ/

Noun

railway m (plural railways)

1. (Anglicism) railway

   Synonym: chemin de fer

Further reading

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