GPS

See also: gps

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiˈpi.es/

Proper noun

GPS

1. (navigation) Initialism of Global Positioning System (“a U.S. military-based satellite navigation system”).

   Synonyms: NavStar, Navstar

   Hypernyms: GPS/global positioning system, satellite navigation system

   Coordinate terms: Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS

   • 1992, S. Noguchi, H. Umeo, editors, Transputer/Occam Japan 4, page 137:

     Since then he has been an Consultant Engineer within INMOS, specialising in GPS and satcomms applications of the transputer.

   • 2017, Daniel Ness, Stephen J. Farenga, Salvatore G. Garofalo, Spatial Intelligence […] , Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 64:

     While it is easy to dismiss GPS art as nothing more than the misuse of a system meant to provide information, the spatial intelligence required to create these works is something to admire (Farman, 2014).

   • 2022 September 20, Toby Donegan-Cross, “Runner creates amazing GPS art of a tiger, a bear and a T-Rex”, in The Sun‎^[1]:

     A TIGER, a bear and a T-Rex dinosaur are among the GPS art created by a runner.

Noun

GPS (countable and uncountable, plural GPSes)

1. (cartography) Initialism of global positioning system (“satellite navigation system”).

   Hyponyms: Navstar/NavStar/GPS/Global Positioning System, BeiDou/Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS

   • 2025 July 23, Paul Clifton, “Air force: drones' developing railway role”, in RAIL, number 1040, page 29:

     "But the Civil Aviation Authority is very worried about 'flyaway' - if someone has bought a GPS jammer on eBay because they don't want drones near their house, it can cause drones to get completely lost and shoot off in a random direction until they run out of battery.

2. Ellipsis of GPS receiver.
3. Initialism of Goodpasture syndrome.

Derived terms

• GPS art
• GPS drawing
• GPS receiver

Translations

Global Positioning System

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 全球定位系統 / 全球定位系统 (zh) (quánqiú dìngwèi xìtǒng)

• Danish: GPS (da) c
• Esperanto: tutmonda loktrova sistemo
• Finnish: GPS (fi)
• French: GPS (fr) m
• Galician: GPS m
• German: GPS (de) n
• Māori: pūnaha kimi taunga, PKT
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: GPS (no) m

• Polish: GPS (pl) m
• Portuguese: GPS (pt) m
• Russian: GPS (ru) m
• Spanish: GPS (es) m
• Swedish: GPS (sv)
• Thai: จีพีเอส
• Walloon: mostere-voye (wa) m (receiver), cir-moennaedje m (system)
• Xibe: ᡪᡞ
  ᡦᡞ
  ᠠᡞᠰ (ji pi ais)

Verb

GPS (third-person singular simple present GPSes, present participle GPSing, simple past and past participle GPSed)

1. (transitive) To locate something using a GPS system.

Further reading

• GPS on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• GSP, PGS, PGs, PSG, Pgs, SPG, pgs, pgs., sGP

Galician

Noun

GPS m (invariable)

1. (cartography) GPS, Global Positioning System

   Synonym: sistema de posicionamento global

2. (technology) GPS receiver, satnav

   Synonym: navegador GPS

German

Etymology 1

Noun

GPS n (strong, genitive GPS, no plural)

1. GPS

Declension

Declension of GPS [sg-only, neuter, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	GPS
genitive	eines	des	GPS
dative	einem	dem	GPS
accusative	ein	das	GPS

Further reading

• “GPS” in Duden online

Etymology 2

Proper noun

GPS f (proper noun, genitive GPS)

1. (Swiss politics) initialism of Grüne Partei der Schweiz (“Green Party of Switzerland”)

   Coordinate terms: SVP, SP, FDP, GLP, EVP, EDU

Declension

Declension of GPS [sg-only, feminine]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	GPS
genitive	einer	der	GPS
dative	einer	der	GPS
accusative	eine	die	GPS

Japanese

Etymology

Borrowed from English GPS.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑiːpʲiːe̞sɨ]

Noun

GPS(ジーピーエス) • (jī-pī-esu) 

1. (cartography) GPS

References

• “GPS”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
• “GPS” in Weblio Dictionary.

Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiˈpies/ [d͡ʒiˈpi.es]

Proper noun

GPS

1. (Malaysian politics) initialism of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (“Sarawak Parties Alliance”)

Polish

GPS

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English GPS.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʐi.piˈɛs/, /ɡjɛ.pɛˈɛs/
• Rhymes: -ɛs
• Syllabification: G‧P‧S

Noun

GPS m inan (indeclinable)

1. (uncountable, astronautics, cartography, navigation, technology) GPS (Global Positioning System; a system which enables a mobile receiver to determine its precise location based on signals received from a constellation of US military satellites)
2. (countable, colloquial, astronautics, cartography, navigation, technology) GPS, GPS receiver (audiovisual device, fitted to a civilian road vehicle, that uses the military Global Positioning System (U.S. Navstar system) as an aid to navigation)

   Synonyms: nawigacja, nawigator

Declension

Declension of GPS

	singular	plural
nominative	GPS	GPS-y
genitive	GPS-u	GPS-ów
dative	GPS-owi	GPS-om
accusative	GPS	GPS-y
instrumental	GPS-em	GPS-ami
locative	GPS-ie	GPS-ach
vocative	GPS-ie	GPS-y

or

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• GPS in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• GPS in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• GPS in PWN's encyclopedia

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): (initialism) /ˌʒeˌpeˈɛ.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): (initialism) /ˌʒeˌpeˈɛ.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): (initialism) /ˌʒeˌpeˈɛ.se/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): (initialism) /ˌʒeˌpeˈɛ.sɨ/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English GPS.

Noun

GPS m (invariable)

1. (uncountable) GPS (global positioning system)
2. GPS receiver

   Synonym: recetor GPS

   • 2025 March 11, Pedro Zanrosso, “Guiados por GPS de coleira, bombeiros resgatam cachorro de dentro do Cânion Fortaleza, em Cambará do Sul; veja vídeo”, Pioneiro, in GZH‎^[3], Porto Alegre: Grupo RBS, archived from the original on 23 March 2025:

     Para o resgate, os bombeiros utilizaram técnicas de rapel e contaram com a ajuda de um GPS, instalado na coleira do animal.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Etymology 2

Noun

GPS f (uncountable)

1. (Brazil) initialism of guia de previdência social
   • 2023 December 21, Thais Tenher, “Aprenda como emitir a Guia da Previdência Social (GPS) no Meu INSS”, in Exame‎^[4], São Paulo, archived from the original on 8 August 2024:

     A guia da Previdência Social, também conhecida pela sigla GPS, é um velho conhecido do contribuinte brasileiro. O documento serve para o recolhimento das quantias referentes aos beneficiários do INSS.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “GPS”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “GPS”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “GPS”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌxe ˌpe ˈese/ [ˌxe ˌpe ˈe.se]
• Syllabification: GPS

Noun

GPS m (plural GPS)

1. (cartography) GPS, Global Positioning System

   Synonym: sistema de posicionamiento global

2. (technology) GPS receiver, satnav

   Synonym: navegador GPS

Further reading

• “GPS”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Alternative forms

• gps

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English GPS. First attested in the mid-1980s, probably.

Noun

GPS c

1. (cartography) GPS, Global Positioning System
2. (technology) GPS receiver, satnav

Declension

Declension of GPS

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	GPS	GPS
	definite	GPS:en	GPS:ens
plural	indefinite	GPS:er	GPS:ers
	definite	GPS:erna	GPS:ernas

Derived terms

• gps:a (“track or mark with GPS”, verb)

References

• GPS in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)