traffic jam

English

A traffic jam.

Pronunciation

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

traffic jam (plural traffic jams)

1. A situation in which road traffic accumulates until it is stationary or very slow.

   Synonym: snarl-up

   Hypernyms: jam, jam-up

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 17:

     Victorian Londoners did not speak of 'traffic jams' - that term came from America after the First World War. They spoke rather of traffic 'locks' or 'blocks', and their prevalence would be one reason why Pearson began to direct his thoughts underground.

Related terms

• phantom jam
• tailback

Translations

situation in which all road traffic is stationary or very slow

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: اِزْدِحَام الْمُرُور m (izdiḥām al-murūr), اِخْتِنَاق مُرُورِيّ m (iḵtināq murūriyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: زحمة f (zaḥma)

  Hijazi Arabic: زحمة f (zaḥma)

  South Levantine Arabic: زحمة f (zaḥme)

• Armenian: խցանում (hy) (xcʻanum)
• Azerbaijani: tıxac (az)
• Basque: auto-ilara
• Belarusian: ко́рак m (kórak), зато́р m (zatór)
• Bulgarian: задръ́стване (bg) n (zadrǎ́stvane)
• Catalan: embós (ca) m, embús (ca) m, embotellament (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 塞車／塞车 (yue) (sak¹ ce¹)

  Mandarin: 交通阻塞 (zh) (jiāotōng zǔsè), 塞車／塞车 (zh) (sāichē), 堵車／堵车 (zh) (dǔchē)

• Czech: dopravní zácpa f, zácpa (cs) f
• Danish: trafikprop c
• Dutch: file (nl) f, opstopping (nl) f
• Esperanto: trafikŝtopiĝo
• Estonian: liiklusummik, ummik
• Faroese: ferðslutøppur m
• Finnish: seisova liikenne, liikennetukos, paha liikenneruuhka
• French: embouteillage (fr) m, bouchon (fr) m
• Georgian: საცობი (sacobi)
• German: Stau (de) m, (formal) Verkehrsstau (de) m
• Greek: μποτιλιάρισμα (el) n (botiliárisma)
• Greenlandic: angallattut tattoqiuttut
• Hebrew: פְּקַק תְּנוּעָה
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: forgalmi dugó (hu), dugó (hu), közlekedési dugó (hu), torlódás (hu)
• Icelandic: umferðarteppa f
• Indonesian: kemacetan (id), macet (id)
• Irish: plódú tráchta m, tranglam tráchta m
• Italian: ingorgo (it) m, ingorgo stradale m
• Japanese: 交通渋滞 (ja) (こうつうじゅうたい, kōtsū jūtai), 渋滞 (ja) (じゅうたい, jūtai), 雑踏 (ja) (ざっとう, zattō)
• Kazakh: кептеліс (keptelıs)
• Khmer: ស្ទះចរាចរ (stĕəh cɑɑraacɑɑ)
• Korean: 교통 체증(交通滯症) (gyotong chejeung), 교통 혼잡(交通混雜) (gyotong honjap)
• Lao: ຈະຣາຈອນຄັບຄັ່ງ (cha rā chǭn khap khang)
• Latvian: sastrēgums m
• Lithuanian: eismo spūstis f, eismo grūstis f
• Malay: kesesakan trafik (ms), kesesakan lalu lintas
• Maori: taero waka
• Mongolian: түгжрэл (mn) (tügžrel)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trafikkork (no) m, trafikk-kork m

  Nynorsk: trafikkork m, trafikk-kork m

• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: korek (pl) m
• Portuguese: engarrafamento (pt) m, congestionamento (pt) m
• Romanian: ambuteiaj (ro) n
• Romansch: stagnaziun dal traffic f, colonnas dad autos f
• Russian: про́бка (ru) f (próbka), зато́р (ru) m (zatór)
• Scottish Gaelic: stopadh trafaig m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за́стој m

  Latin: zástoj (sh) m

• Slovak: dopravná zápcha f, zápcha (sk) f
• Spanish: embotellamiento (es) m, atasco (es) m (Spain), caravana (es) f (Spain), cola (es) f (Venezuela), fila (es) f (Guatemala), presa (es) f (Costa Rica), taco (es) m (Chile), tapón m (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico), trabazón m (El Salvador), tranca (es) f (Venezuela), trancón (es) m (Colombia, Ecuador), tráfico (es) m (Ecuador), tranque (es) m (Cuba, Panama)
• Swahili: mfungamano wa magari (sw)
• Swedish: bilkö (sv), trafikstockning (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagsisikip ng trapiko, trapik
• Thai: รถติด (rót-dtìt)
• Tigrinya: ጭቕጭቕ ትራፊክ (č̣əḳʰč̣əḳʰ tərafik), ጽቕጥቅጥ ትራፊክ (ṣəḳʰṭəḳṭ tərafik)
• Turkish: tıkanıklık (tr), trafik sıkışıklığı
• Ukrainian: про́бка f (próbka), зато́р (uk) m (zatór)
• Vietnamese: ách tắc giao thông, tắc đường (North), kẹt xe (South)
• Welsh: tagfa draffig f

See also

• gapers' block
• gridlock