鉄道
Meaning in Englishrailway; railroad
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
鉄道 means the railway system, the network of tracks, stations, and trains that moves people and goods by rail.
Main meanings
- the physical infrastructure of rails, stations, and rolling stock used for transporting people and goods by rail
- the rail transport industry or sector as an economic activity
- a generic reference in formal discourse to rail-based transport services and their management
How to use it
Used to discuss rail transport in formal and technical contexts, including policy, planning, and news; common in official names and infrastructure discussions; in everyday speech it simply denotes rail travel as a concept.
Variants and close terms
- 鉄路 (てつろ, tetsuro) – archaic or literary synonym
- 鉄道網 (てつどうもう, tetsudōmō) – the railway network
- 鉄道会社 (てつどうがいしゃ, tetsudō gaisha) – railway company
Composition
- 鉄 iron, metal radical
- 道 road or way
- Together denote a road made of iron, i.e., rails for trains
Etymology
Kanji 鉄 means iron; 道 means road or way; together they form a compound read tetsudō, illustrating the iron road concept as a railway term, with the on'yomi readings from each character combined in a single word.
Origin
Meiji period modernization of Japan; railway networks began with the first line in 1872 and expanded rapidly to connect major cities.
Word class
noun (名詞)