cargo

car·go
C3A1R1G2O1
UK/ˈkɑːɡəʊ/US/ˈkɑɹɡoʊ/

noun

Freight carried by a ship, aircraft, or motor vehicle.

“The plane was overloaded with cargo. It was a cargo of live animals.”

CommonScrabble 8

Meanings

cargo1

nouncargo (countable and uncountable, plural cargos or cargoes)

plural cargos · plural cargoes

  1. countableuncountableFreight carried by a ship, aircraft, or motor vehicle.

    The plane was overloaded with cargo. It was a cargo of live animals.

    4 more examples

    "[…]her whole and entire cargo; and, also, all such other cargoes and property as may have been landed in the island of Teneriffe,[…]"

    1806, James Harrison, The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson

    "[…]but human life is worth more than ships or cargos."

    1913, Nephi Anderson, Story of Chester Lawrence

    How will heaven be filled if the earth ceases to send its cargoes?

    2005, J. M. Coetzee, “Five”, in Slow Man, New York: Viking, →ISBN, page 34

    A battery of several microcannons can be used to fire the drug cargoes at different times and different depths. “We have been working on nanomachines over the past decade,” Joseph Wang, chairman of nanoengineering at UCSD, said. “One of the challenges we considered is to deliver therapeutic cargo deep.

    2016 February 1, Tom Whipple, “Microcannon firing nanobullets: the future of targeted medicine”, in The Times
  2. Papua New GuineacountableuncountableWestern material goods.

    People turned to traditional or innovative religious ritual to obtain "cargo."

    2004, Lamont Lindstrom, “Cargo Cult at the Third Millennium”, in Holger Jebens, editor, Cargo, Cult, and Culture Critique
    5 more examples

    The principal change was that two of the 'satans', Kilibob and Manup, were now identified by different groups as God and Jesus Christ, as cargo deities. This expressed the return to hostility towards Europeans and a reassessment of native rights to the cargo.

    1964, Peter Lawrence, Road Belong Cargo

    In this study of colonial and postcolonial Fiji, Martha Kaplan examines the effects of narratives made real and traces a complex history that began neither as a search for cargo, nor as a cult.

    1995, Martha Kaplan, Neither Cargo Nor Cult

    Why is it that Europeans, despite their likely genetic disadvantage and (in modern times) their undoubted developmental disadvantage, ended up with much more of the cargo?·

    1998, Jared M. Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, page 22

    He was the only one to tell me that he thought it was possible that cargo was made by the ancestors. One or two others were noncommittal, but most clearly denied it.

    2002, Dorothy K. Billings, Cargo Cult as Theater: Political Performance in the Pacific, page 60

    And beyond anthropologists and Islanders, others have been enchanted by cargo as well.

    2019, Lamont Lindstrom ·, Cargo Cult: Strange Stories of Desire from Melanesia and Beyond, page 5
verbcargo (third-person singular simple present cargos, present participle cargoing, simple past and past participle cargoed)

present singular third person cargos · participle present cargoing · participle past cargoed · past cargoed

  1. transitiveTo load with freight.

Cargo2

proper nounCargo (countable and uncountable, plural Cargos)

plural Cargos

  1. countableuncountableA surname.
  2. countableuncountableA village in Kingmoor parish, Carlisle, Cumbria, England (OS grid ref NY3659).
  3. countableuncountableA locality in the Cabonne council area, central New South Wales, Australia.

Synonyms & antonyms

noungoods carried by a large vehicle

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Late Latincarricō
  2. Spanishcargo“load, burden”
  3. Englishcargo

Borrowed from Spanish cargo (“load, burden”), from cargar (“to load”), from Late Latin carricō. Doublet of charge and carga. Displaced native Old English fearm.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek φορτίον, γόμος
  • φορτίον (phortíon)freight carried by a ship
  • γόμος (gómos)freight carried by a ship
Arabic حُمُولَة, شِحْنَة
  • حُمُولَة (ḥumūla)freight carried by a ship
  • شِحْنَة (šiḥna)freight carried by a ship
  • حِمْل (ḥiml)freight carried by a ship
Bengali মালপত্র, কার্গো
  • মালপত্র (malpotro)freight carried by a ship
  • কার্গো (kargō)freight carried by a ship
  • মাল (mal)freight carried by a ship
Bulgarian това́р, ко́рабен това́р
  • това́р (továr)freight carried by a ship
  • ко́рабен това́р (kóraben továr)freight carried by a ship
Catalan càrrega
  • càrregafreight carried by a ship
Chinese Cantonese 儎 /傤, 貨物 /货物
  • 儎 /傤 (zoi³)freight carried by a ship
  • 貨物 /货物 (fo³ mat⁶)freight carried by a ship
  • 貨 /货 (fo³)freight carried by a ship
Chinese Mandarin 貨物 /货物, 貨 /货
  • 貨物 /货物 (huòwù)freight carried by a ship
  • 貨 /货 (huò)freight carried by a ship
Czech náklad
  • nákladfreight carried by a ship
Danish gods, fragt
  • godsfreight carried by a ship
  • fragtfreight carried by a ship
  • lastfreight carried by a ship
Dutch vracht, lading
  • vrachtfreight carried by a ship
  • ladingfreight carried by a ship
Esperanto kargo
  • kargofreight carried by a ship
Estonian last, praht
  • lastfreight carried by a ship
  • prahtfreight carried by a ship
  • laadungfreight carried by a ship
Finnish lasti, kuorma
  • lastifreight carried by a ship
  • kuormafreight carried by a ship
  • taakkafreight carried by a ship
  • rahtifreight carried by a ship
French cargaison
  • cargaisonfreight carried by a ship
German Fracht, Ladung
  • Frachtfreight carried by a ship
  • Ladungfreight carried by a ship
  • Cargofreight carried by a ship
Greek φορτίο
  • φορτίο (fortío)freight carried by a ship
Hebrew מִטְעָן
  • מִטְעָן (mit'án)freight carried by a ship
Hindi पोतभार, नौभार
  • पोतभार (potbhār)freight carried by a ship
  • नौभार (naubhār)freight carried by a ship
  • माल (māl)freight carried by a ship
  • बोझ (bojh)freight carried by a ship
  • खेप (khep)freight carried by a ship
Hungarian rakomány, fuvar
  • rakományfreight carried by a ship
  • fuvarfreight carried by a ship
Icelandic farmur
  • farmurfreight carried by a ship
Indonesian kargo
  • kargofreight carried by a ship
Irish lasta
  • lastafreight carried by a ship
Italian carico
  • caricofreight carried by a ship
Japanese 積荷, 貨物
  • 積荷 (tsumini)freight carried by a ship
  • 貨物 (kamotsu)freight carried by a ship
Korean 짐, 화물
  • 짐 (jim)freight carried by a ship
  • 화물 (hwamul)freight carried by a ship
  • 바리 (bari)freight carried by a ship
Latin onus
  • onusfreight carried by a ship
Latvian krava
  • kravafreight carried by a ship
Lithuanian krovinys
  • krovinysfreight carried by a ship
Malay kargo
  • kargofreight carried by a ship
Māori utanga, uta
  • utangafreight carried by a ship
  • utafreight carried by a ship
Norwegian Bokmål frakt, last
  • fraktfreight carried by a ship
  • lastfreight carried by a ship
Polish ładunek
  • ładunekfreight carried by a ship
Portuguese carga
  • cargafreight carried by a ship
Romanian marfă
  • marfăfreight carried by a ship
Russian груз, това́р
  • груз (gruz)freight carried by a ship
  • това́р (továr)freight carried by a ship
  • ка́рго (kárgo)freight carried by a ship
Scottish Gaelic carago, luchd
  • caragofreight carried by a ship
  • luchdfreight carried by a ship
Slovak náklad
  • nákladfreight carried by a ship
Spanish carga, cargamento
  • cargafreight carried by a ship
  • cargamentofreight carried by a ship
  • cargazónfreight carried by a ship
Swahili shehena
  • shehenafreight carried by a ship
Swedish frakt, last
  • fraktfreight carried by a ship
  • lastfreight carried by a ship
Tagalog kargamento, kargo
  • kargamentofreight carried by a ship
  • kargofreight carried by a ship
Thai สินค้า
  • สินค้า (sǐn-káa)freight carried by a ship
Turkish yük
  • yükfreight carried by a ship
Ukrainian ванта́ж
  • ванта́ж (vantáž)freight carried by a ship
Urdu کارْگو, کھیپ
  • کارْگو (kārgo)freight carried by a ship
  • کھیپ (khep)freight carried by a ship
  • مال (māl)freight carried by a ship
Vietnamese hàng hóa, hàng hoá
  • hàng hóafreight carried by a ship
  • hàng hoáfreight carried by a ship
Welsh cargo
  • cargofreight carried by a ship
Yiddish פֿראַכט, לאַסט
  • פֿראַכט (frakht)freight carried by a ship
  • לאַסט (last)freight carried by a ship

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with cargo

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

cargo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cargo

MLA

“cargo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cargo. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cargo,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cargo.

Source: cargo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.