Meanings
plural railroad ties
- USrail transportA heavy, preserved piece of hewn timber laid crossways to and supporting the rails of a railroad or a member of similar shape and function of another material such as concrete.
Holonyms: railroad track, rail track, railway track, train track, permanent way
Synonyms: railway tie, sleeper, railway sleeper
- A long, thin wooden beam used as a border in driveways, to hold in soil in gardens, etc.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA heavy, preserved piece of hewn timber laid crossways to and supporting the rails of a railroad or a member of similar shape and function of another material such as concrete.
More synonyms by meaning
nounone of the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Arabic عَارِضَة
- عَارِضَة (ʕāriḍa)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Bulgarian траве́рса
- траве́рса (travérsa)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Catalan travessa
- travessapiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Chinese Mandarin 枕木, 軌枕 /轨枕
- 枕木 (zhěnmù)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
- 軌枕 /轨枕 (guǐzhěn)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Czech pražec, železniční pražec
- pražecpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- železniční pražecpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Danish svelle
- svellepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Dutch dwarsligger, biels
- dwarsliggerpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- bielspiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- bielpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Esperanto ŝpalo
- ŝpalopiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Finnish ratapölkky
- ratapölkkypiece supporting the rails of a railroad
French traverse
- traversepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
German Schwelle, Bahnschwelle
- Schwellepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- Bahnschwellepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- Eisenbahnschwellepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Hebrew אֶדֶן
- אֶדֶן (éden)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Hungarian talpfa
- talpfapiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Italian traversa
- traversapiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Japanese 枕木
- 枕木 (makuragi)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Korean 침목
- 침목 (chimmok)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Māori kurupae
- kurupaepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Norwegian Bokmål sville
- svillepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Polish podkład
- podkładpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Portuguese travessa, dormente
- travessapiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- dormentepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Romanian traversă
- traversăpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Russian шпа́ла
- шпа́ла (špála)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Spanish durmiente, traviesa
- durmientepiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- traviesapiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Swedish sliper, syll
- sliperpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
- syllpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Tagalog trabyesa
- trabyesapiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Thai ไม้หมอน
- ไม้หมอน (máai-mɔ̌ɔn)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Turkish travers
- traverspiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Ukrainian шпа́ла
- шпа́ла (špála)piece supporting the rails of a railroad
Vietnamese tà vẹt
- tà vẹtpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Welsh sliper
- sliperpiece supporting the rails of a railroad
Cite this entry
railroad tie. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/railroad%20tie
“railroad tie.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/railroad%20tie. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “railroad tie,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/railroad%20tie.
Source: railroad tie on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.