tanker

See also: Tanker and tänker

English

Etymology

From tank +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtæŋkə(ɹ)/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋkə(ɹ)

Noun

tanker (plural tankers)

An oil tanker.

2. (nautical) A tankship, a vessel used to transport large quantities of fluid.

   Hyponyms: oil tanker, supertanker

   • 1976 March, JeNelle Matheson, Construction Equipment A Market Assessment for the People's Republic of China‎^[1], U.S. Department of Commerce, →OCLC, page 8:

     The channel at Chan-chiang is being dredged to a depth of 50 feet enabling tankers of 70,000 tons to call.

4. (automotive, US) A motor truck with a tank to hold bulk liquid (with or without internal baffles).

   Synonyms: tanker truck, tank truck

   Coordinate terms: tank car, tank wagon

5. (automotive, UK) A fuel tanker, petrol tanker, road tanker.
   • 2021 September 23, Larry Elliott, “Petrol disruption will fuel fears of new winter of discontent”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Nor is the government facing a strike by tanker drivers, as was the case in early 1979 during the winter of discontent.

6. (aviation, usually military) An aircraft carrying a large supply of jet fuel or avgas for aerial refueling of other aircraft, plus equipment allowing the in-air transfer of fuel.

   Synonyms: air tanker, tanker aircraft

   Without the KC-46 tankers orbiting in friendly airspace, our fighters would've run out of fuel long before reaching the combat zone.

   • 2025 June 21, Thomas Bordeaux, Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen, “US moves B-2 bombers as Trump weighs Iran options”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     On Friday night, eight US Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers took off from Altus, Oklahoma, according to data from FlightRadar24. Over Kansas the tankers refueled two groups of planes, identified on air traffic control audio by their callsigns MYTEE11 FLT and MYTEE21 FLT. The callsign MYTEE has previously been associated with special activity flights by B-2 bombers, and multiple flight trackers on social media said the planes being refueled were B-2 bombers out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

7. (aviation, firefighting) An aircraft built or modified to carry water and/or fire retardant for dropping on wildfires.

   While our ground teams cut firebreaks in the brush, the tankers kept the fire in the mountains at bay with frequent drops of water and retardant.

8. (rail transport) A tank car.
9. (military) Member of a tank crew, or of an armoured unit.

   Synonyms: tankist (uncommon), zipperhead (Canadian military slang)

   Hypernyms: crewmember, trooper

   Hyponym: tankman

   • 2014, Michael Green, American Tanks & AFVs of World War II, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 70:

     On February 19, 1943, American tankers felt the full wrath of the German Army in North Africa when its tank-led spearhead punched a 2-mile-wide hole through American lines at Faid Pass in Tunisia, […]

10. (surfing slang) A longboard.

    I swung the tanker around just in time to take off with the lip.

Derived terms

• air tanker
• oil tanker
• supertanker
• tanker aircraft
• tanker boot
• tanker truck
• think-tanker

Translations

vessel — see also oil tanker

• Arabic: نَاقِلة f (nāqila)
• Armenian: հեղուկանավ (hy) (heġukanav)
• Belarusian: та́нкер m (tánkjer)
• Bulgarian: та́нкер m (tánker)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 油船 (zh) (yóuchuán), 液貨船 / 液货船 (yèhuòchuán)

• Czech: tanker (cs) m
• Danish: tankskib n, tanker c
• Estonian: tanker (et)
• Finnish: tankkeri (fi), tankkilaiva, säiliölaiva, säiliöalus
• French: navire-citerne (fr) m, pétrolier (fr) m, tanker (fr) m
• Georgian: ტანკერი (ṭanḳeri)
• German: Tanker (de) m, Tankschiff (de) n
• Greek: δεξαμενόπλοιο (el) n (dexamenóploio)
• Hindi: टैंकर m (ṭaiṅkar)
• Italian: nave cisterna f, petroliera (it) f
• Japanese: タンカー (ja) (tankā)
• Kazakh: танкер (tanker)
• Korean: 탱커 (taengkeo)
• Kyrgyz: танкер (ky) (tanker)
• Latvian: tankkuģis m
• Lithuanian: tanklaivis m
• Macedonian: танкер m (tanker)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tankskip n, tankbåt m, tanker (no) m

  Nynorsk: tankskip n, tankbåt m, tankar m

• Polish: tankowiec (pl) m, zbiornikowiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: navio-tanque m
• Romanian: petrolier (ro) n, tanc petrolier (ro) n
• Russian: та́нкер (ru) m (tánker), наливно́е су́дно n (nalivnóje súdno)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: та̀нкер m

  Roman: tànker (sh) m

• Slovak: tanker m
• Slovene: tanker m
• Spanish: buque cisterna m (tanker ship), camión cisterna m (tank truck), avión cisterna m (tanker plane)
• Swedish: tankfartyg (sv) n, tanker (sv) c
• Ukrainian: та́нкер m (tánker)
• Volapük: cubanaf

tank truck

• Bulgarian: цисте́рна f (cistérna)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 油車 / 油车 (zh) (yóuchē)

• Danish: tankbil c, tankvogn c
• Finnish: säiliöauto (fi)
• French: camion-citerne (fr) m
• German: Tanklaster (de) m, Tanklastwagen m
• Hungarian: tartálykocsi (hu), üzemanyag-szállító jármű
• Italian: autocisterna (it) f
• Polish: cysterna (pl) f, beczkowóz (pl) m
• Portuguese: camião-cisterna m (Portugal), caminhão-tanque m (Brazil)
• Romanian: autocisternă (ro) f
• Russian: бензово́з (ru) m (benzovóz), автоцисте́рна (ru) f (avtocistɛ́rna)
• Spanish: camión cisterna m
• Ukrainian: бензово́з (uk) m (benzovóz)

member of a tank crew

• Belarusian: танкі́ст m (tankíst), танкі́стка f (tankístka)
• Bulgarian: танки́ст m (tankíst)
• Czech: tankista (cs) m
• Finnish: panssarimies (fi)
• French: tankiste (fr) m or f
• German: Panzersoldat (de) m
• Hungarian: páncélos (hu)
• Italian: carrista (it) m
• Latvian: tankists m
• Lithuanian: tanki̇̀stas m, tanki̇̀stė f
• Polish: czołgista (pl) m, czołgistka f
• Portuguese: tanqueiro m
• Russian: танки́ст (ru) m (tankíst), танки́стка (ru) f (tankístka)
• Slovak: tankista m
• Tagalog: tangkista
• Ukrainian: танкі́ст m (tankíst), танкі́стка f (tankístka)

See also

• (military): crewman

Verb

tanker (third-person singular simple present tankers, present participle tankering, simple past and past participle tankered)

1. (transitive) To transport (oil, etc.) in a tanker.
2. (aviation) To carry more fuel than necessary for a flight, in order to avoid having to refuel at a destination where fuel is more expensive or in short supply.

Anagrams

• Kanter

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tankər/, [ˈtˢɑnɡ̊ɐ̯]

Etymology 1

Noun

tanker c

1. indefinite plural of tanke

Etymology 2

From English tanker.

Noun

tanker c (definite singular tankeren, indefinite plural tankere, definite plural tankerne)

1. a tanker (a ship fitted with tanks for carrying liquid cargoes)

Synonyms

• tankskib

Verb

tanker

1. present of tanke

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English tanker.

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛŋ.kər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tan‧ker
• Rhymes: -ɛŋkər

Noun

tanker m (plural tankers, diminutive tankertje n)

1. tank ship

   Synonym: tankschip

Derived terms

• gastanker
• mammoettanker
• olietanker

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

tanker m (plural tankers)

1. tanker (vessel)

Further reading

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

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English tanker.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtankər/ [ˈt̪an.kər]
• Rhymes: -ankər
• Syllabification: tan‧ker

Noun

tanker (plural tanker-tanker)

1. (nautical) tanker

   Synonym: kapal tangki

Alternative forms

• tangker

Derived terms

• tanker minyak bumi
• tanker pengangkut

Further reading

• “tanker”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Norwegian Bokmål

Tankeren "Flanders Loyalty"

Etymology 1

From English tanker.

Noun

tanker m (definite singular tankeren, indefinite plural tankere, definite plural tankerne)

1. (nautical) a tanker

Synonyms

• tankbåt, tankskip

Derived terms

• oljetanker

See also

• tankar (Nynorsk)

Etymology 2

Noun

tanker m

1. indefinite plural of tank
2. indefinite plural of tanke

Etymology 3

Verb

tanker

1. present of tanke

References

• “tanker” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “tanker” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tǎnker/
• Hyphenation: tan‧ker

Noun

tànker m inan (Cyrillic spelling та̀нкер)

1. tanker (vessel used to transport large quantities of liquid)

Declension

Declension of tanker

	singular	plural
nominative	tanker	tankeri
genitive	tankera	tankera
dative	tankeru	tankerima
accusative	tanker	tankere
vocative	tankeru	tankeri
locative	tankeru	tankerima
instrumental	tankerom	tankerima

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English tanker.

Noun

tanker c

1. (nautical) tanker

   Synonym: tankfartyg

Declension

Declension of tanker

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	tanker	tankers
	definite	tankern	tankerns
plural	indefinite	tankrar	tankrars
	definite	tankrarna	tankrarnas

Derived terms

• gastanker
• jättetanker
• oljetanker
• supertanker
• tankerflotta

Further reading

• tanker in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker

Anagrams

• nektar