ambulance

English

Ambulances

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambulance, which replaced French (hôpital) ambulant (“walking, shifting (hospital)”) via the suffix -ance, from Latin ambulō (“I walk, I go about”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæm.bjə.ləns/
• (AAVE, also Southern American English) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.bjəˌlæns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: am‧bu‧lance

Noun

ambulance (plural ambulances)

1. An emergency vehicle designed for transporting seriously ill or injured people to a hospital. [1854]
2. (military) A mobile field hospital. [1798]
3. (obsolete, US) A prairie wagon. [Late 19c.]

Derived terms

• air ambulance
• amberlamps
• ambulance-chase
• ambulance chaser
• ambulance chasing
• ambulance cover
• ambulanceman
• ambulance train
• ambulancewoman
• call an ambulance
• field ambulance
• motor-ambulance
• wambulance

 

Related terms

• ambulatory
• ambulant

Descendants

• → Baharna Arabic: عمبلوص‎ (ʕambalūṣ)
• → Hindi: एम्बुलेंस (embulens)
• → Swahili: ambulensi

Translations

emergency vehicle

• Afrikaans: ambulans (af) sg
• Albanian: autoambulancë (sq) f
• Arabic: سَيَّارَة إِسْعَاف‎ f (sayyārat ʔisʕāf)

  Hijazi Arabic: إسعاف‎ f (ʔisʕāf), سيارة إسعاف‎ f (sayyārat ʔisʕāf)

• Armenian: շտապօգնության մեքենա (štapōgnutʿyan mekʿena), շտապօգնություն (štapōgnutʿyun)
• Assamese: এম্বুলেঞ্চ (embuleñs)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܪܲܕܵܝܬܵܐ ܕܟܪ̈ܝܼܗܹܐ‎ f (rādayta d-krīhe), ܐܲܡܒܘܼܠܵܢܣ‎ m (āmbulans)
• Asturian: ambulancia f
• Azerbaijani: təcili yardım, tibbi yardım maşını, təcili tibbi yardım
• Basque: anbulantzia
• Belarusian: ху́ткая дапамо́га f (xútkaja dapamóha), ху́ткая f (xútkaja) (colloquial)
• Bengali: অ্যাম্বুলেন্স (êmbulenśo)
• Bulgarian: лине́йка f (linéjka), бъ́рза по́мощ f (bǎ́rza pómošt)
• Burmese: လူနာတင်ကား (my) (lunatangka:), သူနာတင်ကား (my) (sunatangka:)
• Catalan: ambulància (ca) f
• Central Dusun: ambulan
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 救傷車／救伤车 (gau³ soeng¹ ce¹)

  Mandarin: 救護車／救护车 (zh) (jiùhùchē), 救生車／救生车 (jiùshēngchē)

  Min Nan: 救護車／救护车 (zh-min-nan) (kiù-hō͘-chhia)

• Cornish: ambulans m
• Czech: sanitka (cs) f, ambulance (cs) f
• Danish: ambulance (da) c
• Dutch: ziekenwagen (nl) m, ambulance (nl) m, ziekenauto (nl) m
• Esperanto: ambulanco
• Estonian: kiirabi (et), kiirabiauto (et)
• Finnish: ambulanssi (fi), sairaankuljetusauto, sairasauto (fi), lanssi (fi) (slang)
• French: ambulance (fr) f
• Galician: ambulancia (gl) f
• Georgian: სანიტარული ავტომანქანა (saniṭaruli avṭomankana)
• German: Rettungswagen (de) m, Krankenwagen (de) m, Sanka (de) m, Ambulanz (de) f, Notarztwagen (de), Sanitätswagen (de)
• Greek: ασθενοφόρο (el) n (asthenofóro)
• Hebrew: אַמְבּוּלַנְס‎ (he) m (ámbulans)
• Hindi: एम्बुलेंस (hi) m or f (embulens), रोगी-वाहन (rogī-vāhan)
• Hungarian: mentőautó (hu), (colloquial) mentő (hu), rohamkocsi (hu)
• Icelandic: sjúkrabíll (is) m, sjúkrabifreið f (formal)
• Ido: ambulanco (io)
• Indonesian: ambulans (id)
• Interlingua: ambulantia
• Irish: otharcharr (ga) m
• Italian: ambulanza (it) f
• Japanese: 救急車 (ja) (きゅうきゅうしゃ, kyūkyūsha)
• Kazakh: жедел жәрдем (kk) (jedel järdem)
• Khmer: រថយន្តសង្គ្រោះ (rŭət yŭən sɑngkrŭəh), អំប៊ូឡង់ស៍ (ʼɑmbuulɑng)
• Korean: 앰뷸런스 (ko) (aembyulleonseu), 구급차(救急車) (ko) (gugeupcha)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ambûlans (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тез жардам (ky) (tez jardam)
• Ladino:

  Hebrew: אמבולאנסייה‎ f, אמבולאנסה‎ f

  Roman: ambulansia f, ambulansa f

• Lao: ລົດສຸກເສີນ (lo) (lot suk sœ̄n), ລົດພະຍາບານ (lot pha nyā bān), ລົດໂຮງໝໍ (lot hōng mǭ)
• Latin: arcera f
• Latvian: ātrās palīdzības mašīna f, ātrā palīdzība f
• Lithuanian: greitosios pagalbos automobilis m, greitoji f
• Macedonian: амбу́лантна ко́ла f (ambúlantna kóla), бр́за по́мош f (bŕza pómoš)
• Malay: ambulans, kereta sakit
• Malayalam: ആംബുലൻസ് (āmbulaṉsŭ)
• Maori: waka tūroro
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хээрийн эмнэлэг (xeeriin emneleg), түргэн тусламжийн тэрэг (türgen tuslamžiin tereg)

• Navajo: diné atítʼįįhgo bee naagéhé
• Nepali: यम्बुलेन्स (yambulensa)
• Norman: ambulance f
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: ambulanse (no) m, sykebil m, sjukebil m

  Norwegian Nynorsk: ambulanse m, sjukebil m

• Ojibwe: aakoziiwidaabaan
• Pashto: امبولانس‎ (ps) m (ambulāns), ژغورګاډی‎ m (žorgāḍay)
• Persian: آمبولانس‎ (fa) (âmbulâns), بیمارستان سیار‎ (bimârestân-siyâr)
• Polish: ambulans (pl) m, karetka (pl) f
• Portuguese: ambulância (pt) f
• Romanian: ambulanță (ro) f
• Russian: ско́рая по́мощь (ru) f (skóraja pómoščʹ), неотло́жка (ru) f (neotlóžka) (colloquial), санита́рная маши́на f (sanitárnaja mašína), ско́рая (ru) f (skóraja) (colloquial)
• Scottish Gaelic: carbad-eiridinn m, ambaileans f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хитна помоћ, болничарска кола f, амбулантна кола f

  Roman: hitna pomoć f, bolničarska kola f, ambulantna kola f

• Sinhalese: ගිලන් රථය (gilan rathaya), ගිලන‍්‍රථය (gilan‍rathaya), ගිලන‍්‍රිය (gilan‍riya)
• Slovak: sanitka f
• Slovene: ambulanta f
• Spanish: ambulancia (es) f
• Swahili: ambyulensi, ambulensi
• Swedish: ambulans (sv) c
• Tagalog: ambulansiya (tl)
• Tajik: ёрии таъчилӣ (yoriyi taʾčilī)
• Tamil: நோயாளர் ஊர்தி (nōyāḷar ūrti)
• Thai: รถพยาบาล (th) (rót-pá-yaa-baan)
• Turkish: ambülans (tr), cankurtaran (tr)
• Turkmen: tiz kömek
• Ukrainian: швидка́ допомо́га f (švydká dopomóha), швидка́ f (švydká) (colloquial)
• Urdu: ایمبولینس‎ m or f (embulens), بیمار گاڑی‎ (bīmār-gāṛī), طبی امدادی گاڑی‎ (tibī-imdādī-gāṛī)
• Uzbek: tez yordam mashinasi (uz), tez yordam
• Vietnamese: xe cứu thương (vi) (車救傷), xe cấp cứu (車急救)
• Welsh: ambiwlans (cy) m
• Yiddish: אַמבולאַנס‎ (ambulans)
• Yoruba: áńbúláǹsì, ọkọ̀ ìtọ́jú pàjáwìrì, ọkọ̀ ìtọ́jú aláìsàn

Verb

ambulance (third-person singular simple present ambulances, present participle ambulancing, simple past and past participle ambulanced)

1. (transitive) To transport by ambulance.
   • 1918, Western Surgical Association: Transactions, volume 27, page 66:

     Ambulancing patients with acute obstruction over cobble and rails should not be tolerated; better render the necessary service where the patient is found.

Further reading

• “ambulance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ambulance”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈambulant͡sɛ]

Noun

ambulance f

1. ambulance

   Synonym: sanitka

2. hospital ward or department that offers outpatient care

Declension

Declension of ambulance (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	ambulance	ambulance
genitive	ambulance	ambulancí
dative	ambulanci	ambulancím
accusative	ambulanci	ambulance
vocative	ambulance	ambulance
locative	ambulanci	ambulancích
instrumental	ambulancí	ambulancemi

Related terms

• ambulantně
• ambulantní

 

Further reading

• ambulance in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• ambulance in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambulance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑmbuˈlɑŋsə/

Noun

ambulance c (singular definite ambulancen, plural indefinite ambulancer)

1. ambulance

Declension

Declension of ambulance

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ambulance	ambulancen	ambulancer	ambulancerne
genitive	ambulances	ambulancens	ambulancers	ambulancernes

References

• “ambulance” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

ambulance

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambulance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑm.byˈlɑn.sə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: am‧bu‧lan‧ce
• Rhymes: -ɑnsə

Noun

ambulance f (plural ambulances)

1. ambulance
   • 1975, Anke de Vries, Het geheim van Mories Besjoer, Lemniscaat, section 59:

     Ze beschrijven uitvoerig hoe Maurice te hulp schoot, toen hij gegil hoorde, hoe hij iemand had zien wegvluchten uit de kamer en dat hij het was geweest, die een ambulance had gebeld.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1979, Rubberen Robbie, "De ambulance", Zuipen (CD).

     Twee, drie, weken geleden kwam de ambulance / Bij onze buurman hier net om de hoek

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Synonyms

• ziekenauto
• ziekenwagen

Descendants

• Afrikaans: ambulans
• → Indonesian: ambulans
• → Sranan Tongo: ambilans
  • → Caribbean Javanese: ambilas

French

Etymology

From Latin ambulāns, present participle of ambulō (“to walk, to go about”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

ambulance f (plural ambulances)

1. ambulance

Descendants

• → Dutch: ambulance (see there for further descendants)
• → English: ambulance
• → Portuguese: ambulância
• → Romanian: ambulanță
• → Turkish: ambulans

Further reading

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

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English ambulance and French ambulance.

Noun

ambulance f (plural ambulances)

1. (Jersey) ambulance