caravan

B2 Topic:Travel
US /ˈkæɹəvæn/
noun verb Freq #9781

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A vehicle with beds and cooking equipment that is pulled by a car and used as a home on holiday.

    Every summer they towed the caravan to the coast for two weeks.

  2. 2
    noun

    A group of people and animals travelling together, especially across a desert.

    A caravan of camels crossed the desert carrying spices and silk.

  3. 3
    verb

    To travel or take a holiday in a caravan.

    When my parents retired, they really got into caravanning.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · a vehicle with beds and... campertrailertravel trailerrv
2 noun · a group of people and... camel trainconvoytrain
Word family
Forms caravanedcaravaningcaravannedcaravanningcaravans
Derived forms caravan-likecaravaneercaravanercaravanettecaravanistcaravanlikecaravannermotor-caravanmotorcaravan

Etymology

From Middle French caravane, from Old French carvane, from Persian کاروان (kârvân), from Middle Persian kʾlwʾn' (kārawān), from Old Persian 𐎣𐎠𐎼 (k-a-r, “people, subjects”). The word was used to designate a group of people who were travelling by camel or horse on the Silk Road. Doublet of Kairouan.

View etymology graph ->

Topics

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