Araba

/əˈrɑbə/ noun

Definition

A light, four-wheeled carriage used in Turkey and other parts of the Ottoman Empire and Middle East.

Etymology

From Turkish 'araba' and Arabic 'arabah,' ultimately from a Semitic root. The word traveled into English through European contact with Ottoman territories during the 16th-17th centuries.

Kelly Says

This vehicle was so common in Ottoman cities that European travelers wrote extensively about it in their journals. Today it's mainly found in history books and Turkish cultural descriptions, but it was once as ordinary as a taxi is to us.

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