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) 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

Derived terms

• air ambulance
• ambulance chaser
• ambulanceman, ambulancewoman

• ambulance train
• heart ambulance
• wambulance

Related terms

• ambulatory
• ambulant

Descendants

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

Translations

emergency vehicle

• Afrikaans: ambulans (af) sg
• Albanian: autoambulancë (sq) f
• Arabic: سَيَّارَة إِسْعَاف‎ f (sayyārat ʾisʿāf)
• Armenian: շտապօգնության մեքենա (štapōgnutʿyan mekʿena), շտապօգնություն (štapōgnutʿyun)
• 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 (ôjambulenś)
• Bulgarian: лине́йка f (linéjka), бърза́ по́мощ f (bǎrzá 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 (zh), 救护车 (zh) (jiùhùchē), 救生車, 救生车 (jiùshēngchē)

  Min Nan: 救護車 (zh-min-nan), 救护车 (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)
• 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
• Greek: ασθενοφόρο (el) n (asthenofóro)
• Hebrew: אַמְבּוּלַנְס‎ (he) m (ambulans), חישפוזית‎ f (khishpuzit)
• Hindi: एम्बुलेंस (hi) m or f (embulens), रोगी-वाहन (rogī-vāhan)
• Hungarian: mentőautó (hu), (colloquial) mentő (hu), rohamkocsi
• 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: រថយន្ត​សង្គ្រោះ​ (rʊət yʊən sɑngkrʊəh), អំប៊ូឡង់ស៍ (ʼɑmbuulɑng)
• Korean: 앰뷸런스 (ko) (aembyulleonseu), 구급차 (ko) (gugeupcha) (救急車 (ko))

• 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: абу́лантна ко́ла f (abúlantna kóla), бр́за по́мош f (bŕza pómoš)
• Malay: ambulans, kereta sakit
• Malayalam: ആംബുലൻസ് (āmbulansŭ)
• Maori: waka tūroro
• Mongolian: хээрийн эмнэлэг (kheeriin emneleg), түргэн тусламжийн тэрэг (türgen tuslamjiin 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
• Persian: آمبولانس‎ (fa) (âmbulâns), بیمار کش‎ (bimâr kesh)
• 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
• 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
• Swedish: ambulans (sv) c
• Tagalog: ambulansiya (tl)
• Tajik: ёрии таъчили (yoriyi taʾčili)
• 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)
• 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)

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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ambulance in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈambulant͡sɛ]

Noun

ambulance f

1. ambulance
2. hospital ward or department that offers outpatient care

Declension

Declension

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

Synonyms

• (ambulance): sanitka

Related terms

• ambulantní
• ambulantně

Further reading

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

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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, 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.

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

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

Synonyms

• ziekenauto
• ziekenwagen

Descendants

• Afrikaans: ambulans
• → Indonesian: ambulans

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French

Etymology

From Latin ambulans, present participle of ambulō (“I walk, I 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)
• → Turkish: ambülans

Further reading

• “ambulance” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English ambulance and French ambulance.

Noun

ambulance f (plural ambulances)

1. (Jersey) ambulance