tram

tram · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*térmn̥“peg, post, boundary”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*drum“splinter, fragment”
3. Middle Dutch · derived fromtrame“narrow shaft, beam”
4. Low German · derived fromtraam“tram, shaft of a barrow”
5. English todaytram

Early 16th century, borrowed from Scots, probably from Low German traam (“tram, shaft of a barrow”), from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch trame (“narrow shaft, beam”), said to be ultimately from a lost West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) word, probably from Proto-Germanic *drum (“splinter, fragment”), from Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“peg, post, boundary”), cognate with Latin terminus. Compare Middle Low German treme; West Flemish traam, trame. The popular derivation from the surname of the English pioneer tramway builder Benjamin Outram (1764–1805) is false: the term pre-dated him. The sense of a rail vehicle derives from tram-way, in its earliest sense meaning literally a log-covered road, but later applied to the earliest wooden railways, used for transporting coal in carts which came to be called "trams".

tram · noun, verb²

1. French · derived fromtrame“weft”
2. Spanish · derived fromtrama
3. English todaytram

From Spanish trama, or French trame (“weft”). Doublet of trama.

Words from the same roots