locomotion

English

Etymology

From French locomotion, from Latin locō (literally “from a place”) (ablative of locus (“place”)) + motionem (“motion, a moving”) (nominative mōtio), from Latin movēre, present active infinitive of moveō (“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”), from Proto-Indo-European *mew- (“to move, drive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊʃən

Noun

locomotion (usually uncountable, plural locomotions)

1. (uncountable) The ability to move from place to place, or the act of doing so.
2. (biology, uncountable) Self-powered motion by which a whole organism changes its location through walking, running, jumping, crawling, swimming, brachiating or flying.
3. (countable, often preceded by definite article) A dance, originally popular in the 1960s, in which the arms are used to mimic the motion of the connecting rods of a steam locomotive.

Derived terms

• locomotive
• locomotor

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mew-‎ (0 c, 56 e)

Translations

ability to move

• Bulgarian: придвижване (bg) n (pridvižvane)
• Catalan: locomoció f
• Dutch: voortbeweging (nl)
• Finnish: liikkumiskyky
• French: locomotion (fr) f
• Galician: locomoción (gl) f
• Georgian: გადაადგილება (gadaadgileba)
• German: Fortbewegungsfähigkeit f, Lokomotion f (technical)
• Ido: lokomoco (io)
• Irish: féinghluaiseacht f
• Italian: locomozione (it) f
• Portuguese: locomoção (pt) f
• Romanian: locomoție (ro) f
• Russian: ход (ru) m (xod)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: локомоција f

  Roman: lokomocija (sh) f

• Spanish: locomoción (es) f

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔ.kɔ.mɔ.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

locomotion f (plural locomotions)

1. locomotion

Derived terms

• locomoteur
• locomotif

Further reading

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