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funicular

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,417 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: funiculars

A funicular is a pair of cars on a slope, one pulling the other up. Take the funicular, a funicular railway, the funicular station.

The two cars are joined by a cable over a wheel at the top, so the descending one counterbalances the climbing one and the motor need only make up the difference — which is why funiculars are so efficient on steep ground. Note that the Latin funiculus means a thin rope, which is the whole design.

AlixSaz · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of funicular

  1. 1nounfunicularA cable railway where two cars counterbalance each other.C1

    “We took the funicular up the steep hill to the castle instead of walking.”

funicular is a railway.

Where it comes from

Latin funiculus is a diminutive of funis, a rope. The railway is named for the cable it runs on.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *bʰendʰ-

  2. Latin

    fūniculus — thinner cord

  3. English, today

    funicular

Built from

  • fūnis · Latin — rope, cord

From Latin fūniculus (“thinner cord”), diminutive from fūnis (“rope, cord”) + -culus. by surface analysis, funicul(us) + -ar.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Vehicles & Machines, Railways

Practise this word

funicular in the wild

  • The term funicular derives from the Latin word funiculus, the diminutive of funis, meaning 'rope'.

    Funicular

  • On 11 November 2000, a fire triggered by a faulty fan heater broke out on a train of the Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 funicular in Kaprun, Austria.

    Kaprun disaster

  • The Carmelit is an underground funicular railway in Haifa, Israel.

    Carmelit

  • The Guindais Funicular (Portuguese: Funicular dos Guindais) is a funicular railway in the Portuguese city of Porto.

    Funicular dos Guindais

  • The modern funicular opened in 2004 and it runs along the same path of a funicular that briefly operated during the 19th century.

    Funicular dos Guindais

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.