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An automobile is a
wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor.
Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles
are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating
for between one and six people, typically have four
wheels and be constructed principally for the transport
of people rather than goods. However, the term is far
from precise.
The term automobile is derived from Greek auto-
("self") and Latin mobilis
("movable"), referring to the fact that it
"moves by itself". Earlier terms for
automobile include motorwagon, and horseless carriage.
Although the term "car" is presumed to be
derived through the shortening of the term
"carriage", the word has its origin before
1300 A.D. in English as, "carr"—derived from
similar words in French and much earlier Greek
words—for a vehicle that moves, especially on wheels,
that was applied to chariots, small carts, and
later—to carriages that carried more people and larger
loads. Note, therefore, that carriage and chariot come
from the same root as car, which in a sense predates
them. As of 2002 there were 590 million passenger cars
worldwide (roughly one car for every eleven people), of
which 140 million in the U.S.
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