airbag

See also: Airbag and air bag

English

An airbag

Alternative forms

• air-bag, air bag

Etymology

From air +‎ bag.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

Noun

airbag (plural airbags)

1. (automotive) A protective system in automobiles in which when a crash occurs, a bag containing nitrogen, formed by the explosive decomposition of sodium azide, quickly inflates in front of the driver or passenger, preventing injury to the head. Side air bags, including the back seat passengers, also prevent injury.
   • 1997, “Airbag”, in OK Computer, performed by Radiohead:

     In a fast German car / I'm amazed that I survived / An airbag saved my life

   • 2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 32:

     However, the challenges for the railway world are much greater than for automotive as we generally have more occupants, higher speeds, greater masses, higher energies, and an absence of seatbelts or airbags to contend with.

2. A similar inflated bag used in performing stunts, or for lifting objects in firefighting, etc.
   • 2005, Alan Tussy, R. Gustafson, Developmental Mathematics for College Students, page 1030:

     As part of a scene in a movie, a stuntman falls from the top of a 95-foot-tall building into a large airbag directly below him on the ground, as shown in Figure 15-3.

3. (slang) A person who talks too much; a windbag or gossip.

Derived terms

• airbagged
• airbagless

Translations

protective system in automobiles

• Afrikaans: lugsak
• Arabic: وِسَادَة هَوَائِيَّة f (wisāda hawāʔiyya)
• Armenian: անվտանգության բարձիկ (anvtangutʻyan barjik)
• Azerbaijani: təhlükəsizlik yastığı
• Belarusian: паду́шка бяспе́кі f (padúška bjaspjéki)
• Bulgarian: възду́шна възгла́вница (văzdúšna văzglávnica)
• Catalan: coixí de seguretat m, airbag m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 安全氣囊 / 安全气囊 (zh) (ānquán qìnáng)

• Danish: airbag (da)
• Dutch: airbag (nl) m, luchtzak (nl) m
• Esperanto: aersako
• Estonian: turvapadi (et)
• Finnish: turvatyyny (fi)
• French: airbag (fr) m, coussin gonflable m, coussin gonflable de sécurité m
• Georgian: აირბალიში (airbališi), უსაფრთხოების ბალიში (usaprtxoebis bališi)
• German: Airbag (de) m, Prallkissen n
• Greek: αερόσακος (el) m (aerósakos)
• Hindi: एयरबैग m (eyarbaig)
• Hungarian: légzsák (hu)
• Icelandic: loftpúði m
• Ido: aerosako (io)
• Indonesian: kantung udara
• Italian: airbag (it) m, cuscino salvavita (it) m, cuscino d'aria (it) m
• Japanese: エアバッグ (ja) (eabaggu)
• Kazakh: қауіпсіздік көпшігі (qawipsizdik köpšigi)
• Korean: 에어백 (eeobaek)
• Latvian: drošības spilvens m
• Lithuanian: oro pagalvė f
• Malay: beg udara, beg keselamatan
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: аюулгүйн дэр (ajuulgüjn der)

• Norman: ballon dé sauveté m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kollisjonspute m or f

  Nynorsk: kollisjonspute f

• Persian: کیسِهٔ هَوا (fa) (kise-ye havâ)
• Polish: poduszka powietrzna (pl) f
• Portuguese: airbag (pt) m
• Romanian: pernă de aer (ro) f
• Russian: поду́шка безопа́сности (ru) f (podúška bezopásnosti)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: zračni jastuk m (Croatia)

• Spanish: airbag (es) m, bolsa de aire f, erbag m, bolsa aérea f, bolsa neumática f
• Swedish: krockkudde (sv) c, airbag (sv) c
• Tajik: кисаи ҳаво (kisa-yi havo), болишти бехатарӣ (bolišt-i bexatarī)
• Thai: ถุงลมนิรภัย (tǔng-lom-ní-rá-pai)
• Turkish: hava yastığı (tr)
• Ukrainian: поду́шка безпе́ки f (podúška bezpéky)

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English airbag.

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /ˈɛːr.bɛk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: air‧bag

Noun

airbag m (plural airbags, diminutive airbagje n)

1. an airbag

   Synonym: botsballon

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English airbag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛʁ.baɡ/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

  (file)

Noun

airbag m (plural airbags)

1. airbag
2. (in the plural, slang) knockers, tits

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English airbag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /erˈbɛɡ/, /ˈɛr.beɡ/
• Rhymes: -ɛɡ, -ɛrbeɡ

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

airbag m (invariable)

1. airbag (protective system)

Anagrams

• bragia, garbai

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• air bag

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English airbag.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌɛʁˈbɛ.ɡi/ [ˌɛhˈbɛ.ɡi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌɛʁˈbɛ.ɡi/ [ˌɛhˈbɛ.ɡi]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˌɛɾˈbɛ.ɡi/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˌɛʁˈbɛ.ɡi/ [ˌɛχˈbɛ.ɡi]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˌɛɻˈbɛ.ɡi/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌɛɾˈbɛ.ɡɨ/ [ˌɛɾˈβɛ.ɣɨ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌɛɾˈbɛ.ɡɨ/ [ˌɛɾˈβɛ.ɣɨ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌɛɾˈbɛ.ɡɨ/

Noun

airbag m (plural airbags)

1. (automotive) airbag (a protective system in automobiles)

Further reading

• airbag on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt
• “airbag”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “airbag”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English airbag.

Noun

airbag n (plural airbaguri)

1. airbag

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	airbag	airbagul	airbaguri	airbagurile
genitive-dative	airbag	airbagului	airbaguri	airbagurilor
vocative	airbagule		airbagurilor

Spanish

Alternative forms

• (nonstandard) air bag

Etymology

Borrowed from English airbag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aiɾˈbaɡ/ [ai̯ɾˈβ̞aɣ̞]
• IPA^(key): (proscribed) /eɾˈbaɡ/ [eɾˈβ̞aɣ̞]
• Rhymes: -aɡ
• Syllabification: air‧bag

Noun

airbag m (plural airbags)

1. airbag
   • 1997, Jesús Calvo Martín, Mecánica del automóvil actual, Reverte, →ISBN, page 218:

     En un futuro el sistema de control del airbag podrá determinar las características del ocupante e incluso ya se piensa en un airbag que proteja a los peatones en caso de atropello.

     In the future, the airbag control system will be able to determine the characteristics of the occupant, and they're already thinking about an airbag that could protect pedestrians in case of accident.

Further reading

• “airbag”, 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

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English airbag, attested since the 1970s.

Noun

airbag c

1. an airbag

   Synonym: krockkudde

Declension

Declension of airbag

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	airbag	airbags
	definite	airbagen	airbagens
plural	indefinite	airbagar	airbagars
	definite	airbagarna	airbagarnas

Derived terms

• airbaghjälm (“airbag helmet”)

References

• “airbag”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “airbag”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Anagrams

• braiga

Turkish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English airbag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.iɾ.beɟ/

Noun

airbag (definite accusative airbagi, plural airbagler)

1. airbag

Declension

Declension of airbag

singular plural nominative airbag airbagler definite accusative airbagi airbagleri dative airbage airbaglere locative airbagde airbaglerde ablative airbagden airbaglerden genitive airbagin airbaglerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular airbagim airbaglerim 2nd singular airbagin airbaglerin 3rd singular airbagi airbagleri 1st plural airbagimiz airbaglerimiz 2nd plural airbaginiz airbagleriniz 3rd plural airbagleri airbagleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular airbagimi airbaglerimi 2nd singular airbagini airbaglerini 3rd singular airbagini airbaglerini 1st plural airbagimizi airbaglerimizi 2nd plural airbaginizi airbaglerinizi 3rd plural airbaglerini airbaglerini dative singular plural 1st singular airbagime airbaglerime 2nd singular airbagine airbaglerine 3rd singular airbagine airbaglerine 1st plural airbagimize airbaglerimize 2nd plural airbaginize airbaglerinize 3rd plural airbaglerine airbaglerine locative singular plural 1st singular airbagimde airbaglerimde 2nd singular airbaginde airbaglerinde 3rd singular airbaginde airbaglerinde 1st plural airbagimizde airbaglerimizde 2nd plural airbaginizde airbaglerinizde 3rd plural airbaglerinde airbaglerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular airbagimden airbaglerimden 2nd singular airbaginden airbaglerinden 3rd singular airbaginden airbaglerinden 1st plural airbagimizden airbaglerimizden 2nd plural airbaginizden airbaglerinizden 3rd plural airbaglerinden airbaglerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular airbagimin airbaglerimin 2nd singular airbaginin airbaglerinin 3rd singular airbaginin airbaglerinin 1st plural airbagimizin airbaglerimizin 2nd plural airbaginizin airbaglerinizin 3rd plural airbaglerinin airbaglerinin