An automobile is a road vehicle with an engine, usually with four wheels, used to carry people. Today we usually just call it a car.
From Greek “auto-” meaning “self” and French “mobile” from Latin “mobilis,” meaning “movable.” It originally meant “self-moving vehicle,” to contrast it with vehicles pulled by animals.
The word literally means “self-mover,” which must have sounded like science fiction when horses were normal. “Car” won in everyday speech, but “automobile” still shows how magical early cars seemed.
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