caravan
pronunciation
How to pronounce caravan in British English:
UK [ˈkærəvæn]
How to pronounce caravan in American English:
US [ˈkærəvæn]
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- Noun:
- a procession (of wagons or mules or camels) traveling together in single file
- a camper equipped with living quarters
Word Origin
- caravan
- caravan: [16] Caravans have no etymological connection with cars, nor with char-a-bancs. The word comes ultimately from Persian kārwān ‘group of desert travellers’, and came into English via French caravane. Its use in English for ‘vehicle’ dates from the 17th century, but to begin with it referred to a covered cart for carrying passengers and goods (basis of the shortened form van [19]), and in the 19th century it was used for the basic type of thirdclass railway carriage; its modern sense of ‘mobile home’ did not develop until the late 19th century. Caravanserai ‘inn for accommodating desert caravans’ [16] comes from Persian kārwānserāī: serāī means ‘palace, inn’, and was the source, via Italian, of seraglio ‘harem’ [16].=> caravanserai, van
- caravan (n.)
- 1580s, from Middle French caravane, from Old French carvane, carevane "caravan" (13c.), or Medieval Latin caravana, picked up during the Crusades from Persian karwan "group of desert travelers" (which Klein connects to Sanskrit karabhah "camel"). Used in English for "vehicle" 17c., especially for a covered cart. Hence, in modern British use (from 1930s), often a rough equivalent of the U.S. mobile home.
Synonym
Example
- 1. He grew up in an ar village , making the annual camel caravan with his father .
- 2. There were forty camels in the caravan , and the mules were twice forty in number .
- 3. Early next month , a caravan of cars will roll into central washington .
- 4. Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking .
- 5. An article in the wall street journal quoted pentagon officials saying that american drones spotted the caravan and alerted the turks .