ambulance

English

an ambulance (noun sense 1) with its emergency lights on

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts?

Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder.

Proto-Italic *amβi-

Latin ambi-

Proto-Indo-European *h₂elh₂-der.

Proto-Italic *alō

Latin *alō

Latin ambulō

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Latin -ns

Latin ambulānsbor.

French ambulant

▲

Latin -ns

Latin -āns

Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-ijos

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin -āntia

Old French -ance

Middle French -ance

French -ance

French ambulancebor.

English ambulance

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæmbjᵿl(ə)n(t)s/, /ˈæm.bjə.ləns/
• (African-American Vernacular, also Southern US) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.bjəˌlæns/, /ˈæm.bəˌlæns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: am‧bu‧lance

Noun

ambulance (plural ambulances)

2. An emergency vehicle designed for transporting seriously ill or injured people to a hospital. [from 1854]

   Synonyms: (slang) band-aid buggy, (slang) blood box, (slang) body box, (slang) bone box, (slang) meat wagon

   • 2025 December 12, Tobi Thomas, Denis Campbell, “NHS bracing for worst ever winter crisis in next fortnight amid rising flu cases”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The NHS is bracing itself for its worst ever winter crisis descending in the next fortnight because of a worsening “flu-nami” that has left hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services under intense strain.

3. (military) A mobile field hospital. [from 1798]
4. (UK) A vehicle used for the transportation of dead people, typically to a mortuary.

   Synonym: private ambulance

5. (chiefly UK, obsolete) Synonym of stretcher, a litter used for medical transport.
6. (US, obsolete) Synonym of covered wagon. [from late 19th c.]

Derived terms

• air ambulance
• amberlamps
• ambulance at the bottom of a cliff
• ambulance-chase
• ambulance chaser
• ambulance chasing
• ambulance cover
• ambulanceman
• ambulanceperson
• ambulance train
• ambulancewoman
• ambulette
• cabulance
• call an ambulance
• field ambulance
• motor-ambulance
• nonambulance
• police ambulance
• private ambulance
• vanbulance
• wahmbulance
• wambulance

Related terms

• ambulant
• ambulatory

Descendants

• → Assamese: এম্বুলেঞ্চ (embuleñso)
• → Baharna Arabic: عمبلوص (ʕambalūṣ)
• → Chichewa: ambulansi
• → Dari: اَمْبُولَانْس (ambūlāns)
• ⇒ Esperanto: ambulanco
• → Hindi: एम्बुलेंस (embulens)
• → Korean: 앰뷸런스 (aembyulleonseu)
• → Malay: ambulans
• → Pashto: امبولانس (ambulāns)
• → Swahili: ambulensi
• → Ulithian: ambelens
• → Welsh: ambiwlans
• → Yoruba: áńbúláǹsì

Translations

emergency vehicle

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

  Baharna Arabic: عمبلوص (ʕambalūṣ)

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

• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܪܲܕܵܝܬܵܐ ܕܟܪ̈ܝܼܗܹܐ f (rādayta d-krīhe), ܐܲܡܒܘܼܠܵܢܣ m (āmbulans)

• Armenian: շտապօգնության մեքենա (štapōgnutʻyan mekʻena), շտապօգնություն (štapōgnutʻyun)
• Assamese: এম্বুলেঞ্চ (embuleñs)
• 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 (bn) (êmbulenśo)
• Bulgarian: лине́йка f (linéjka), бъ́рза по́мощ f (bắrza pómošt)
• Burmese: လူနာတင်ကား (my) (lunatangka:), သူနာတင်ကား (my) (sunatangka:)
• Catalan: ambulància (ca) f
• Chichewa: ambulansi class 9/6, gálímoto class 9/6
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 救傷車 / 救伤车 (gau³ soeng¹ ce¹), 白車 / 白车 (yue) (baak⁶ ce¹), 救護車 / 救护车 (gau³ wu⁶ ce¹), 十字車 / 十字车 (sap⁶ zi⁶ ce¹)

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

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

  Wu: 救護車 / 救护车

• Cornish: ambulans m
• Czech: sanitka (cs) f, ambulance (cs) f, sanitní vůz m, sanitní vozidlo n, sanita f, záchranka (cs)
• Danish: ambulance (da) c
• Dusun:

  Central Dusun: ambulan

• 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: Ambulanz (de) f, Krankenwagen (de) m, Notarztwagen (de) m, Rettung (de) f, Rettungsauto (de) n, Rettungswagen (de) m, Sanitätswagen (de) m, Sanka (de) m
• 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), mobil darurat
• 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 (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

  Latin: 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)
• Māori: waka tūroro
• Marathi: रुग्णवाहिका f (rugṇavāhikā)
• Mongolian:

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

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

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

  Nynorsk: ambulanse m, sjukebil m

• Ojibwe: aakoziiwidaabaan
• Pashto: امبولانس (ps) m (ambulāns), ژغورګاډی m (žorgāḍay)
• Persian:

  Dari: اَمْبُولَانْس (ambūlāns)

  Iranian Persian: آمْبولانْس (âmbulâns), بیمارِسْتانِ سَیَّار (bimârestân-e sayyâr)

• Pohnpeian: ampwulens
• Polish: ambulans (pl) m inan, karetka (pl) f
• Portuguese: ambulância (pt) f
• Romanian: ambulanță (ro) f
• Russian: автомоби́ль ско́рой по́мощи m (avtomobílʹ skóroj pómošči), ско́рая по́мощь (ru) f (skóraja pómoščʹ), каре́та ско́рой по́мощи (ru) f (karéta skóroj pómošči) (dated, formal), санита́рная маши́на f (sanitárnaja mašína) (military), неотло́жка (ru) f (neotlóžka) (colloquial), ско́рая (ru) f (skóraja) (colloquial), каре́та (ru) f (karéta) (colloquial)
• Sanskrit: रुग्णवाहकम् n (rugṇavāhakam)
• Scottish Gaelic: carbad-eiridinn m, ambaileans f
• Serbo-Croatian:

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

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

• Sinhalese: ගිලන් රථය (gilan rathaya), ගිලන‍්‍රථය (gilan‍rathaya), ගිලන‍්‍රිය (gilan‍riya)
• Slovak: sanitka f, sanitné vozidlo n, ambulancia f, sanita f
• Slovene: ambulanta f, reševalni avto m, reševalni avtomobil m, reševalno vozilo, rešilec, rešilni avto, rešilni avtomobil, rešilno vozilo n
• Spanish: ambulancia (es) f
• Swahili: ambyulensi, ambulensi (sw)
• Swedish: ambulans (sv) c
• Tagalog: ambulansiya (tl)
• Tajik: ёрии таъчилӣ (yori-yi ta'čili)
• Tamil: நோயாளர் ஊர்தி (nōyāḷar ūrti), ஆம்புலன்ஸ் (āmpulaṉs)
• 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)
• Ulithian: ambelens
• Urdu: اَیمْبُولینْس m or f (aimbūlens), بِیمار گاڑی f (bīmār gāṛī), طِبی اِمْدادی گاڑی f (tibī imdādī gāṛī)
• Uyghur: قۇتقۇزۇش ئاپتوموبىلى (qutquzush aptomobili), قۇتۇلدۇرۇش ماشىنىسى (qutuldurush mashinisi)
• Uzbek: tez yordam mashinasi (uz), tez yordam
• Vietnamese: xe cứu thương (vi) (車救傷), xe cấp cứu (vi) (車急救)
• Welsh: ambiwlans (cy) m
• Yiddish: אַמבולאַנס (ambulans)
• Yoruba: áńbúláǹsì, ọkọ̀ ìtọ́jú pàjáwìrì, ọkọ̀ ìtọ́jú aláìsàn, áḿbúláǹsì

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 OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1914), “ambulance, n.”, in The Century Dictionary […], volumes I (A–C), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 171, column 2.
• “ambulance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “ambulance, n.”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to XII), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 171, column 2.

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts?

Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder.

Proto-Italic *amβi-

Latin ambi-

Proto-Indo-European *h₂elh₂-der.

Proto-Italic *alō

Latin *alō

Latin ambulō

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Latin -ns

Latin ambulānsbor.

French ambulant

▲

Latin -ns

Latin -āns

Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-ijos

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin -āntia

Old French -ance

Middle French -ance

French -ance

French ambulancebor.

Czech ambulance

Borrowed from French ambulance. First attested in the 19th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈambulant͡sɛ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: am‧bu‧lan‧ce

Noun

ambulance f

1. hospital ward or department that offers outpatient care
3. ambulance (emergency vehicle)

   Synonym: sanitka

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 (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “ambulance”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambulance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑm.buˈlɑŋ.sə/
• Rhymes: -ɑŋsə
• Hyphenation: am‧bu‧lan‧ce

Noun

ambulance c (singular definite ambulancen, plural indefinite ambulancer)

2. ambulance (emergency vehicle)

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

Alternative forms

• ambu (clipping, informal)

Etymology

Borrowed from French ambulance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑm.byˈlɑn.sə/, [ˌɑm.byˈlɑ̃ː.sə]

• Audio:

  (file)

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

Noun

ambulance f (plural ambulances, no diminutive)

2. ambulance (emergency vehicle)

   Synonyms: ziekenauto, ziekenwagen

   • 1975, Anke de Vries, Het geheim van Mories Besjoer, Lemniscaat, →ISBN, →OCLC, 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.

     They described in detail how Maurice rushed to help when he heard screaming, how he had seen someone fleeing the room, and that it was he who had called an ambulance.

   • 1979, Rubberen Robbie, “De ambulance [The ambulance]”, in Zuipen (CD):

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

     Two, three weeks ago, the ambulance came ¶ To our neighbor's place just around the corner

Derived terms

• ambulancedienst
• dierenambulance
• psycholance

Related terms

• ambulant

Descendants

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

Further reading

• Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “ambulance”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001

French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts?

Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder.

Proto-Italic *amβi-

Latin ambi-

Proto-Indo-European *h₂elh₂-der.

Proto-Italic *alō

Latin *alō

Latin ambulō

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Latin -ns

Latin ambulānsbor.

French ambulant

▲

Latin -ns

Latin -āns

Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-ijos

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin -āntia

Old French -ance

Middle French -ance

French -ance

French ambulance

From ambulant +‎ -ance, after the earlier hôpital ambulant (literally “ambulant hospital”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
• Hyphenation: am‧bu‧lance

Noun

ambulance f (plural ambulances)

2. ambulance (emergency vehicle)

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)

2. (Jersey) ambulance (emergency vehicle)