carburetor

English

A carburetor for an internal combustion engine (top view)

Alternative forms

• carburator
• carburettor (Australia, Britain, New Zealand)
• carbureter
• carburetter

Etymology

Attested from 1862, from carburet (“enrich an illuminating gas with carbon-rich fuel”) +‎ -or. The motor vehicle sense is attested since 1896

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːb(j)əˌɹɛtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹb(j)əˌɹeɪtɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

carburetor (plural carburetors)

1. (obsolete) A device for enhancing illuminating gas by mixing in carbon-rich fuel. [from 1860s]
   • Second, the employment of a current of air between the carburettor and the tube leading to the burner, is described.

     The Mechanics' Magazine, July 25, 1862.

2. (US, Canada) A device in an internal combustion engine where fuel is vaporized and mixed with air prior to ignition. [from 1890s]
3. (slang, drugs) A water pipe or bong; a device or contrivance for mixing air with burning cannabis or cocaine. [from 1970s]
   • 1989, United States International Trade Commission, Importation of certain drug paraphernalia into the United States, page 8:

     Variations on the bong included air-driven pipes, electric pipes, ice pipes (chillers), mask pipes, chamber pipes, and carburetor pipes.

   • 2008, Dale Gieringer, Ed Rosenthal, Gregory Carter, Marijuana Medical Handbook‎^[1], page 172:

     Some pipes feature a “carburetor,” which is a small hole in the air chamber located past the bowl. The carburetor is held shut while the bowl is being lit and the smoke drawn.

Synonyms

• carb (North America)
• carby (Australia)
• gasifier

Coordinate terms

• fuel injection, injector

Related terms

• carburetion

Translations

a device in an internal combustion engine

• Arabic: مَازِج m (māzij)
• Armenian: կարբյուրատոր (hy) (karbyurator)
• Azerbaijani: karbürator
• Basque: karburagailu
• Belarusian: карбюра́тар m (karbjurátar)
• Bulgarian: карбура́тор (bg) m (karburátor)
• Burmese: ကာဘရိုက်တာ (kabha.ruikta)
• Catalan: carburador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化油器 (zh) (huàyóuqì), 汽化器 (zh) (qìhuàqì)

• Czech: karburátor m
• Danish: karburator c
• Dutch: carburator (nl), carburateur (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: karburaator
• Faroese: blendari m
• Finnish: kaasutin (fi)
• French: carburateur (fr) m
• Georgian: კარბიურატორი (ḳarbiuraṭori)
• German: Vergaser (de) m
• Greek: εξαερωτήρας (el) m (exaerotíras), καρμπυρατέρ (el) n (karmpyratér)
• Hebrew: מְאַיֵד m
• Hindi: कार्ब्युरेटर (kārbyureṭar)
• Hungarian: porlasztó (hu), karburátor (hu)
• Icelandic: blöndungur m, karbúrator m
• Indonesian: karburator (id)
• Irish: carbradóir m
• Italian: carburatore (it) m
• Japanese: キャブレター (kyaburetā)
• Kazakh: карбюратор (karbürator)
• Khmer: កាបឺរ័រ (kaabəɨrɔə)
• Korean: 기화기 (gihwagi), 카뷰레터 (kabyureteo)
• Kyrgyz: карбюратор (karbyurator)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: карбуратор m (karburator)
• Malay: karburetor
• Mongolian: карбюратор (mn) (karbjurator)
• Navajo: gááboleita
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forgasser m

  Nynorsk: forgassar m

• Persian: کاربراتور (fa) (kârburâtar)
• Plautdietsch: Karbaräta m
• Polish: gaźnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: carburador (pt) m
• Romanian: carburator (ro) n
• Russian: карбюра́тор (ru) m (karbjurátor)
• Serbo-Croatian: rasplinjač (sh) m

  Cyrillic: карбуратор m

  Roman: karburator (sh) m

• Slovak: karburátor m
• Slovene: uplinjač m, karburátor m
• Spanish: carburador (es) m
• Swahili: kabureta
• Swedish: förgasare (sv) c, karburator (sv) c
• Tagalog: tambutso, paningaw, karburador
• Tajik: карбюратор (karbyurator)
• Thai: คาร์บูเรเตอร์ (kaa-buu-ree-dtə̂ə)
• Turkish: karbüratör (tr)
• Turkmen: karbýurator
• Ukrainian: карбюра́тор m (karbjurátor)
• Uzbek: karbyurator (uz)
• Vietnamese: bộ chế hoà khí
• Welsh: carbwradur m, carbwredur

References

• carburetor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Jonathon Green (2024) “carburetor”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang