Uber

See also: uber, ueber, über, uber-, and über-

English

Alternative forms

• uber (sometimes proscribed)

Etymology

The company's name is from uber, from German über (“above, over”), as in “above all the rest (of the competition),” a principle the founders wanted to build upon.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈuːbə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -uːbə(ɹ)
• Homophone: uber

Noun

Uber (plural Ubers)

1. A car ride requested using the mobile application Uber.
   • 2016, Jared Meyer, Uber-Positive: Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy‎^[2], Encounter Books, →ISBN:

     Simply because there are more drivers who have signed up to partner with Uber than there are yellow taxis does not mean that there are more Ubers on the road.

   • 2016, Aaron Keller, Renée Marino, Dan Wallace, The Physics of Brand: Understand the Forces Behind Brands that Matter, Blue Ash, OH: HOW Books, →ISBN, page 143:

     It all comes back to two highly compelling moments. The moment you requested an Uber and the moment you exited the car with a mere thank-you.

   • 2020, Matt Pridgen, Confessions of a Late Night Uber Driver, Lionhearts Press, →ISBN:

     Last week, my cousin asked me how to schedule an Uber for a morning ride to the airport. Because I drive Uber almost every night (and write stories about it), she was quite surprised that I had no idea how to do it.

2. The vehicle used for the ride.
3. One's passenger or driver on Uber.

Derived terms

• Luber
• Uberfication
• Uberification
• Uberisation
• uberisation
• uberise
• Uberise
• Uberization
• uberization
• uberize
• Uberize
• Uber problem

Translations

car ride requested using Uber

• Spanish: uber (es) m

Verb

Uber (third-person singular simple present Ubers, present participle Ubering, simple past and past participle Ubered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To travel by means of a mobile app-based ridesharing service, particularly but not necessarily Uber.

   Should we take the train or should we just Uber?

   • 2017 February 28, Adonis Hoffman, “Uber is on a collision course with regulators and lawyers”, in The Hill‎^[3], archived from the original on 31 January 2023, retrieved 21 March 2017:

     You can Uber to the event and avoid the parking problem.

   • 2017 December 14, Heather Schwedel, “Let’s Uber. I’ll Call a Lyft.”, in Slate‎^[4], archived from the original on 4 March 2021, retrieved 14 December 2017:

     “I closed my Uber account months ago,” she told me recently. Even so, she still Ubers from time to time. In a manner of speaking.
     As with a lot of people I know, Medina doesn’t use Uber, but she still Ubers. When she uses ride-hailing apps—and Uber is no longer among them—she still uses the name as her chosen noun or verb because that’s just what you say now. Should we take the train or just Uber?

   • 2025 June 30, Adrienne Matei, quoting Josh Lora, “‘Hey man, I’m so sorry for your loss’: should you use AI to text?”, in The Guardian‎^[5], →ISSN, archived from the original on 5 July 2025:

     […] “There are people who Uber everywhere, who Seamless everything, who Amazon everything, and render their lives completely smooth.”

2. (intransitive, uncommon) To work or be employed as a driver for Uber.

See also

• Lyft

Anagrams

• buer, bure, ebru, erub, Bure, Rueb, rube, Rube, Brue, Reub

Occitan

Proper noun

Uber m (Limousin)

1. alternative form of Ubert. a male given name, equivalent to English Hubert