airplane

English

a Boeing 737 airplane

Alternative forms

• aeroplane, aëroplane (Commonwealth, Ireland), plane (clipping)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews-

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewsér

Proto-Hellenic *auhḗr

Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)bor.

Latin āēr

Old French airbor.

Middle English aire

English air

▲

Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)

Ancient Greek πλανάω (planáō)

Ancient Greek -ος (-os)

Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ερόπλᾰνος (āeróplănos)der.

French aéroplanebor.

English aeroplaneclip.

English plane

English airplane

From air +‎ plane as an alteration of aeroplane.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ârʹplān',
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛəˌpleɪ̯n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛɹˌpleɪ̯n/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: air‧plane
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)pleɪn

Noun

airplane (plural airplanes)

2. (chiefly US, Canada, Philippines) A powered heavier-than-air aircraft with fixed wings: a fixed-wing aircraft with at least one engine or electric motor.

   Hypernyms: aircraft < vehicle, craft < vessel (broad sense)

   Coordinate terms: (other aircraft) glider, helicopter, drone, UAV, UAS; (other vehicles) hovercraft, watercraft, vessel (marine sense), spacecraft, motor vehicle; see also Thesaurus:aircraft

   on an airplane

   jet airplane;   RC airplane

   1. (usually) One that can carry a person or persons.

      They use airplanes to deliver mail and supplies to the far northern villages.

3. Any of various small flyable objects that are notionally comparable to such aircraft but aren't powered.

   toy airplane;   paper airplane

5. (chiefly US, Canada, Philippines) A game to encourage small children to eat, in which the parent or carer pretends that a spoonful of food is an aircraft flying into the child's mouth; the spoonful itself.

   Near-synonym: choo-choo train

   Here comes the airplane! Open wide!

   • 1988, Matthew Linn, Sheila Fabricant, Dennis Linn, Healing the Eight Stages of Life, Paulist Press, →ISBN, page 66:

     So, he'd take a spoon and he'd start playing airplane, circling the spoon around in the air until it was ready to land in the runway of my mouth.

   • 1997 03, Maria Flook, Open Water, Ecco Press, →ISBN:

     Willis wondered what this fellow wanted to do, spoon feed him? Play airplane?

   • 2013 May 13, Theo L. Dorpat, Michael L. Miller, Clinical Interaction and the Analysis of Meaning: A New Psychoanalytic Theory, Routledge, →ISBN:

     For instance, Jan has taken to playing airplane with the spoon to get Charley to attend to the spoon and want to take it into his mouth.

Derived terms

• airplane cloth
• airplane ears
• airplaneful
• airplanelike
• airplane mode
• airplane ticket
• airplanist
• here comes the airplane
• hydro-airplane
• paper airplane
• rubber band airplane

Descendants

• → Plautdietsch: Äarplän

Translations

powered aircraft

• Abkhaz: аероплан (ajeropʼlan)
• Afrikaans: vliegtuig (af)
• Akan: adupire, wiemhyɛn
• Alabama: piɬɬawakáyka
• Albanian: aeroplan (sq) m, balonë (sq) f, avion (sq) m
• Aleut: igax̂tax̂
• Amharic: አይሮፕላን (ʾäyroplan)
• Amis: hikoki
• Arabic: طَائِرَة (ar) f (ṭāʔira), طَيَّارَة (ar) f (ṭayyāra)

  Egyptian Arabic: طيارة f (ṭayyāra)

• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܛܲܝܵܣܬܵܐ f (ṭāyasta)

• Armenian: օդանավ (hy) (ōdanav), ինքնաթիռ (hy) (inkʻnatʻiṙ), աերոպլան (hy) (aeroplan) (dated)
• Assamese: উৰাজাহাজ (urazahaz), আকাশীযান (akaxizan), এৰ’প্লে’ন (eröplën)
• Asturian: avión (ast) m
• Atayal: hikoki'
• Aymara: latajamach'iwa
• Azerbaijani: təyyarə (az), uçaq (non-standard)
• Bambara: sannakurun
• Bashkir: самолёт (samolyot)
• Basque: hegazkin (eu)
• Belarusian: самалёт (be) m (samaljót), аэрапла́н m (aeraplán) (dated)
• Bengali: খপোত (bn) (khopōt), উড়োজাহাজ (bn) (uṛōjahaj), বিমান (bn) (biman), আকাশযান (bn) (akaśjan)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: eroplano (bcl)

• Bole: jirginsama
• Breton: karr-nij (br) m, nijerez f
• Bulgarian: самоле́т (bg) m (samolét), авио́н (bg) m (avión) (dated), аеропла́н (bg) m (aeroplán) (dated)
• Bunun: kusbabai
• Burmese: လေယာဉ်ပျံ (my) (leyanypyam)
• Carpathian Rusyn: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: avió (ca) m
• Cebuano: eroplano
• Chechen: кема (kema), хӏаваан кема (havaan kema)
• Cherokee: ᏥᏳ ᎦᏃᎯᎵᏙᎯ (tsiyu ganohilidohi)
• Cheyenne: ame'hahtȯtse
• Chichewa: ndege
• Chickasaw: piini' wakaa'
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 飛機 / 飞机 (fei¹ gei¹)

  Dungan: фиҗи (fiji), фынчуан (fɨnčuan)

  Eastern Min: 飛機 / 飞机 (hĭ-*gĭ), 飛船 / 飞船 (buŏi-sùng)

  Gan: 飛機 / 飞机 (fi¹ ji¹)

  Hakka: 飛行機 / 飞行机 (fî-hàng-kî, pî-hàng-kî, fî-yàng-kî, pî-yàng-kî), 飛機 / 飞机 (fî-kî)

  Hokkien: 飛機 / 飞机 (zh-min-nan) (hui-ki), 飛行機 / 飞行机 (zh-min-nan) (hui-hêng-ki, poe-hêng-ki, pe-hêng-ki, hue-lêng-ki, hui-lêng-ki, poe-lêng-ki, hoe-nn̄g-ki), 飛船 / 飞船 (zh-min-nan) (poe-chûn, pe-chûn, hui-chûn) (dated)

  Jin: 飛機 / 飞机 (fei¹ ji¹)

  Mandarin: 飛機 / 飞机 (zh) (fēijī), 飛行機 / 飞行机 (zh) (fēixíngjī)

  Northern Min: 飛機 / 飞机 (hí-gí)

  Wu: 飛機 / 飞机

  Xiang: 飛機 / 飞机 (fei¹ ji¹)

• Chinook Jargon: win-ship
• Chukchi: риӈэнэӈ (riṇėnėṇ)
• Comorian:

  Ngazidja Comorian: roplani, ropulani

• Cornish: jynn ebron m
• Cree:

  Northern East Cree: ᑳᐱᒥᐦᔮᒥᑭᐦᒡ (kaapimihyaamikihc), ᑳᐱᐹᒥᐦᔮᒥᑭᐦᒡ (kaapipaamihyaamikihc)

  Southern East Cree: ᑳᐱᒥᐦᔮᒪᑲᐦᒡ (kaapimihyaamakahc)

• Crimean Tatar: tayare, uçaq
• Czech: letoun (cs) m, letadlo (cs) n
• Danish: flyvemaskine (da) c, fly (da) n, maskine (da)
• Dhuwal: ḏikarr
• Dutch: vliegtuig (nl) n
• Elfdalian: flygmasin m, fliuogmasin m, flygplan n
• Esperanto: avio, aviadilo, flugmaŝino
• Estonian: lennuk (et)
• Farefare: alupele
• Faroese: flogfar n
• Finnish: lentokone (fi)
• French: avion (fr) m, aéroplane (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: fleantúch n, fleanmasine

• Fula:

  Adlam: 𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤢-𞤱𞤭𞥅𞤪𞤮𞥅𞤸𞤢, 𞤢𞤪𞤢𞤨𞤵𞤤𞤫𞤤, 𞤢𞤱𞤭𞤴𞤮𞤲

  Latin: laana-wiirooha, arapulel, awiyon

• Galician: avión (gl) m, aeroplano (gl) m
• Georgian: თვითმფრინავი (ka) (tvitmprinavi), აეროპლანი (aeroṗlani)
• German: Flugzeug (de) n, Flieger (de) m (colloquial), Maschine (de) f (informal)
• Greek: αεροπλάνο (el) n (aeropláno), αεροσκάφος (el) n (aeroskáfos)
• Greenlandic: timmisartoq
• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} kurusu veve

• Gujarati: વિમાન (vimān)
• Haitian Creole: avyon
• Hausa: jirgin sama (ha)
• Hawaiian: mokulele, mokuea
• Hebrew: מָטוֹס (he) m (matós), אווירון / אֲוִירוֹן (he) n (avirón)
• Hindi: विमान (hi) m (vimān), हवाई जहाज़ m (havāī jahāz), वायु-यान m (vāyu-yān)
• Hmong:

  White Hmong: dav hlau

• Hungarian: repülőgép (hu), (colloquial) repülő (hu)
• Icelandic: flugvél (is) f
• Ido: aeroplano (io)
• Indonesian: pesawat (id) (colloquial), pesawat terbang (id) (formal), kapal terbang (id) (obsolete)
• Ingrian: samoljotta, aeroplana
• Interlingua: avion, aeroplano
• Inuktitut: ᑎᖕᒥᓲᖅ (tingmisooq), ᖃᖓᑕᓲᖅ (qangatasooq)
• Inupiaq: tiŋŋun
• Irish: eitleán (ga) m
• Italian: aereo (it) m, aeroplano (it) m, apparecchio (it) m, aeromobile (it) f
• Japanese: 飛行機 (ja) (ひこうき, hikōki), 航空機 (ja) (こうくうき, kōkūki)
• Javanese: ꦩꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦠꦺꦴꦂꦩꦧꦸꦂ (montor mabur)
• Jeju: 비헹기 (bihenggi), 비엥기 (bienggi)
• Kanakanabu: hikoki
• Kannada: ವಿಮಾನ (kn) (vimāna), ಏರೋಪ್ಲೇನ್ (ērōplēn), ಏರೋಪ್ಲೇನು (kn) (ērōplēnu), ಗಾಳಿತೇರು (kn) (gāḷitēru)
• Kashmiri: پلین (plēn)
• Kavalan: hikuki
• Kazakh: ұшақ (kk) (ūşaq), самолет (samolet) (dated), аэроплан (aéroplan) (dated)
• Khmer: កប៉ាល់ហោះ (kaʼpal hɑh), យន្តហោះ (yŭən hɑh), សកុណាយន្ត (saʼkonaayŭən)
• Koasati: piththawaika
• Kongo: ndèke
• Korean: 비행기(飛行機) (ko) (bihaenggi), 항공기(航空機) (ko) (hanggonggi)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: فڕۆکە (ckb) (frroke), تەیارە (ckb) (teyare)

  Northern Kurdish: balafir (ku) f, firroke (ku), teyare (ku)

• Kyrgyz: самолёт (ky) (samolyot), учак (ky) (ucak), аэроплан (ky) (aeroplan) (dated)
• Lak: самолет (samolet), айрипӏалан (ayripʼalan)
• Lakota: kiŋyékhiyapi
• Lao: ອາກາດຍານ (ʼā kā da nyān), ເຄື່ອງບິນ (khư̄ang bin), ເຮືອບິນ (hư̄a bin), ຍົນ (lo) (nyon)
• Latin: aeroplanum n
• Latvian: lidmašīna f, lidaparāts m, gaisakuģis m
• Lingala: avió, mpepo
• Lithuanian: lėktuvas (lt) m, aeroplanas m (archaic)
• Macedonian: авио́н (mk) m (avión)
• Malagasy: fiaramanidina (mg)
• Malay: kapal terbang (ms)
• Malayalam: വിമാനം (ml) (vimānaṁ)
• Maltese: ajruplan m
• Manchu: ᡩᡝᠶᡝᡨᡠᠨ (deyetun)
• Mansi:

  Northern Mansi: товлыӈхап (tovlyňhap)

• Manx: etlan m, greie etlee m
• Māori: wakarere (mi), waka rererangi (mi), manurere (mi), rererangi, eropereina, aropereina
• Marathi: विमान (vimān)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: кÿртньыгайык (kÿrtńygajyk)

• Marshallese: baļuun
• Mauritian Creole: avyon
• Mirandese: abion m
• Mizo: thlawhtheihna
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: нисэх онгоц (mn) (nisex ongoc), онгоц (mn) (ongoc), (China) нисгэл (mn) (nisgel)

  Mongolian script: ᠨᠢᠰᠬᠦ
  ᠣᠩᠭᠤᠴᠠ (niskü ongɣuča), ᠣᠩᠭᠤᠴᠠ (ongɣuča), (China) ᠨᠢᠰᠬᠡᠯ (niskel)

• Moore: nasaar-sɩlga, sɩlga
• Nahuatl: tepoztōtōtl (nah), tepozpatlanqui
• Navajo: chidí naatʼaʼí
• Neapolitan: arioplàno m, apparècchio m
• Nepali: विमान (vimān), हवाईजहाज (ne) (hawāījahāj), प्लेन (plen)
• Niuean: vakalele
• Norman: avion m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fly (no) n

  Nynorsk: fly n

• Occitan: avion (oc) m
• Odia: ଉଡ଼ାଜାହାଜ (uṛājāhāja), ବିମାନ (or) (bimāna)
• Ojibwe: bemisemagak
• Oromo: xiyyaara
• Ossetian: хӕдтӕхӕг (xædtæxæg)
• Paiwan: hikuki
• Pali: ākāsayāna n, vehāsayāna n
• Pannonian Rusyn: авион m inan (avion), крилатица f (krilatica), аероплан m (aeroplan)
• Pashto: الوتکه (ps) f (alwatëka), طياره (ps) f (tayāra), هوايي جهاز m (hawāyi jahāz)
• Persian:

  Dari: طَیَّارَه (tayyāra)

  Iranian Persian: هَواپِیْما (havâpeymâ), طَیَّارِه (tayyâre) (dated)

• Plautdietsch: Loftschepp n
• Polish: samolot (pl) m, aeroplan (pl) m (obsolete)
• Portuguese: avião (pt) m, aeroplano (pt) m
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਹਵਾਈ-ਜਹਾਜ਼ m (havāī-jahāz), ਜਹਾਜ਼ m (jahāz)

  Shahmukhi: ہَوائی جَہاز m, جَہاز m (jahāz)

• Puyuma: hikuki
• Quechua: antanka, lata pisqu, maraq
• Romanian: aeroplan (ro) n, avion (ro) n
• Romansh: aviun m, eroplan m
• Rukai: ngiapapalay
• Russian: самолёт (ru) m (samoljót), аэропла́н (ru) m (aeroplán) (dated)
• Saaroa: saliamiapihlihli
• Saisiyat: kamahayap
• Sakizaya: hikuki, babelbel
• Sami:

  Inari Sami: kirdemmaašin

  Northern Sami: girdi

  Skolt Sami: jarplan

• Samoan: vaʻalele
• Sanskrit: विमान (sa) (vimāna), वायु-यान (vāyu-yāna)
• Sardinian: aeroplanu m
• Scottish Gaelic: itealan m
• Senni:

  Koyraboro Senni: beenehii

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: авѝо̄н m, зра̏копло̄в m (Croatia)

  Latin: avìōn (sh) m, zrȁkoplōv (sh) m (Croatia)

• Seychellois Creole: avyon
• Shan: လေႇယိၼ်ႇပျၢၼ်ႇ (lèe yìn pjàan), ႁိူဝ်းမိၼ် (hóe mǐn)
• Shona: ndege
• Sinhalese: ගුවන්යානය (guwanyānaya), අහස්යානය (si) (ahasyānaya)
• Slovak: lietadlo (sk) n, letún m
• Slovene: letalo (sl) n, avion (sl) m
• Somali: diyaarad
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: lětadło n

  Upper Sorbian: lětadło n

• Sotho: sefofane (st)
• Southern Altai: самолёт (samolyot)
• Spanish: avión (es) m, aeroplano (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: opolangi, flikmasyin
• Swahili: ndege (sw), eropleni (sw) class 9/10
• Swedish: plan (sv) n, flygplan (sv) n, flygmaskin (sv) c (uncommon)
• Tagalog: eroplano (tl), salipawpaw
• Tajik: самолёт (tg) (samolyot), тайёра (tg) (tayyora), ҳавопаймо (tg) (havopaymo), аэроплан (aeroplan) (dated)
• Tamil: விமானம் (ta) (vimāṉam), வானவூர்தி (ta) (vāṉavūrti)
• Taroko: asu (Truku), skaya (Truku), sapah skiya (Tgdaya)
• Tatar: очкыч (tt) (oçqıç), самолёт (samolyot), аэроплан (aʹroplan) (dated)
• Telugu: విమానము (te) (vimānamu)
• Thai: เครื่องบิน (th) (krʉ̂ʉang-bin), อากาศยาน (th) (aa-gàat-sà-yaan), เรือบิน (th) (rʉʉa-bin)

  Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can

  Southern Thai: please add this translation if you can

• Tibetan: གནམ་གྲུ (gnam gru), ལྕགས་བྱ (lcags bya)
• Tigrinya: ነፋሪት (näfarit)
• Tokelauan: vakalele
• Tok Pisin: balus (tpi)
• Tongan: vakapuna
• Tsou: hikoki
• Tumbuka: ndege
• Turkish: uçak (tr), (obsolete) tayyare (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: طیاره (tayyare)

• Turkmen: samolýot, uçar, aeroplan (tk) (dated)
• Tuvaluan: vakalele
• Ukrainian: літа́к (uk) m (liták), аеропла́н (uk) m (aeroplán) (dated)
• Unami: pèmihëlak, kënthwikàn
• Urdu: طَیّارَہ m (taiyāra), ہَوائی جَہاز m (havāī jahāz), جَہاز m (jahāz), ہَوا پَیْما m (havā paymā), وِمان m (vimān)
• Uyghur: ئايروپىلان (ayropilan)
• Uzbek: uchoq (uz), tayyora (uz), samolyot (uz), aeroplan (uz)
• Vietnamese: máy bay (vi), tàu bay (vi) (poetic), phi cơ (vi) (飛機) (South Vietnam)
• Volapük: flitöm (vo), flitömil (diminutive), leflitöm (augmentative)
• Võro: linnuk, aeroplaan
• Wallisian: vakalele
• Waray-Waray: eroplano, edro
• Welsh: awyren (cy) f
• Wolaytta: horoophphilliya
• Yakut: самолет (samolet), сөмөлүөт (sömölüöt), көтөр-аал (kötör-aal)
• Yami: sikoki
• Yiddish: אַעראָפּלאַן m (aeroplan), עראָפּלאַן m (eroplan)
• Yindjibarndi: barbarrnyungu
• Yogad: eroplano
• Yonaguni: 飛行機 (ひぐんき, higunki), 飛行機 (ちこーき, chikouki)
• Yoruba: ọkọ̀ òfuurufú, bààlúù
• Zhuang: feihgih

Verb

airplane (third-person singular simple present airplanes, present participle airplaning, simple past and past participle airplaned)

1. (intransitive) To fly in an aeroplane.
2. (transitive) To transport by aeroplane.

See also

• aircraft
• flycraft
• glider
• helicopter

Further reading

• “airplane”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “airplane, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• perianal