engine

See also: Engine and enginé

English

An automobile engine
A miniature railway engine

Etymology

From Middle English engyn, from Anglo-Norman engine, Old French engin (“skill, cleverness, war machine”), from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature, genius, a genius, an invention, (in Late Latin) a war-engine, battering-ram”), related to ingignō (“to instil by birth, implant, produce in”). Compare gin, ingenious, engineer.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈɛnd͡ʒɪn/
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Audio (Texas):(file)
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /ˈɪnd͡ʒɪn/
  • (weak vowel merger) IPA(key): /ˈɛnd͡ʒən/
  • (Australia) IPA(key): /ˈend͡ʒɪn/, /ˈend͡ʒən/
  • (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈend͡ʒɘn/
  • (India) IPA(key): /ˈɪn.dʒɪn/, /ˈɪn.dʒən/, /ɪnˈdʒiːn/
  • Hyphenation: en‧gine
  • Rhymes: -ɛndʒɪn, (pin–pen merger) -ɪndʒɪn

Noun

engine (plural engines)

  1. A large construction used in warfare, such as a battering ram, catapult etc. [from 14th c.]
  2. (now archaic) A tool; a utensil or implement. [from 14th c.]
    • 1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
      Flattery must be the most powerful Argument that cou'd be used to Human Creatures. Making use of this bewitching Engine, they extoll'd the Excellency of our Nature above other Animals [...].
    • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 15, lines 248–251:
      What if the Foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread, / Or Hand, to toil, aſpir'd to be the Head? / What if the Head, the Eye, or Ear repin'd / To ſerve mere Engines to the ruling Mind?
  3. A complex mechanical device which converts energy into useful motion or physical effects. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: drive, motor
  4. A person or group of people which influence a larger group; a driving force. [from 16th c.]
  6. The part of a car or other vehicle which provides the force for motion, now especially one powered by internal combustion. [from 19th c.]
  7. A self-powered vehicle used for moving cars along a track. [from 19th c.]
    2. (usually) A locomotive.
  9. (computing) A software or hardware system responsible for a specific technical task (usually with qualifying word). [from 20th c.]
    a graphics engine
    a physics engine
  10. (obsolete) Ingenuity; cunning, trickery, guile. [13th–17th c.]
  11. (obsolete) The result of cunning; something ingenious, a contrivance; (in negative senses) a plot, a scheme. [13th–18th c.]
  12. (obsolete) Natural talent; genius. [14th–17th c.]
  13. Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; an agent.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Hyponyms of engine

Derived terms

some may be hyponyms

Descendants

  • Tok Pisin: ensin
  • → Afrikaans: enjin
  • → Bengali: ইঞ্জিন (injin)
  • → Hindi: इंजन (iñjan)
  • → Hong Kong Cantonese: engine
  • → Iban: injin
  • → Japanese: エンジン
    • → Hakka: 引擎 (ên-chín)
    • → Min Nan: 引擎 (ia̋n-jín)
  • → Korean: 엔진 (enjin)
  • → Malay: enjin
  • → Portuguese: engine
  • → Punjabi: ਇੰਞਣ (iññaṇ)
  • → Scottish Gaelic: einnsean
  • → Swahili: injini
  • → Shanghainese: 引擎 (in¹-jin⁶)
    • → Chinese: 引擎 (yǐnqíng)

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

engine (third-person singular simple present engines, present participle engining, simple past and past participle engined)

  1. (transitive, dated) To equip with an engine; said especially of steam vessels.
    Vessels are often built by one firm and engined by another.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To assault with an engine.
    • 1629, Thomas Adams, Plain-Dealing:
      to engine and batter our walls
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To contrive; to put into action.

Further reading

Anagrams

Chinese

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From clipping of English engineering.

Pronunciation

Noun

engine

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) engineering industry; engineer
  2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) engineering

Etymology 2

From English engine.

Pronunciation

Noun

engine

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) engine (mechanical device; part of a vehicle; computing)
Synonyms
  • (engine):

Portuguese

Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English engine.

    Pronunciation

    • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈẽ.d͡ʒĩ/, (hypercorrection) /ẽˈd͡ʒaj̃ni/ [ẽˈd͡ʒaɪ̯̃ni]

    Noun

    engine f (plural engines)

    1. (computing) engine (software or hardware system responsible for a specific technical task)
      Synonym: motor
      • 2008 December, Felipe Micaroni Lalli, Felippe Franco Bueno, Guilherme Keese Zacharias, “Chrome” (chapter 4.2.8), in Evolução da programação web, Campinas: FAC, page 33:
        O navegador Chrome beta para Windows foi lançado setembro de 2008 e é um projeto de código-aberto do Google. A maior parte do seu código-fonte tem origem no código do Firefox e sua engine JavaScript foi baseada na engine do Safari e se chama V8. Essa engine atualmente supera a velocidade do TraceMonkey do Firefox […] .
        (please add an English translation of this quotation)
      • 2011 March 22, Nilton Kleina, “O que é engine ou motor gráfico?”, in TecMundo‎[2], São Paulo: NZN, archived from the original on 27 June 2012:
        Não é fácil prever quais os futuros avanços em motores gráficos, mas a próxima grande leva de engines deve surgir apenas na geração que vem a seguir.
        (please add an English translation of this quotation)
      • 2015 December, Rafael Nevez, “Yoshi’s Safari”, Prévia, in Nintendo Blast, number 72, Welcome to the jungle!, page 14:
        Usando uma engine gráfica semelhante à de Super Mario Kart (SNES), o game apresentou visuais belos para a época.
        (please add an English translation of this quotation)
      • 2019 March 12, Pedro Fernandes, “Vulnerabilidade no Github e Slack permitia instalação de malware”, in TugaTech‎[3], Portugal, archived from the original on 1 December 2024:
        De acordo com o portal HackRead, o malware aproveitava uma falha na engine para redirecionar os utilizadores para falsas páginas das plataformas, com objetivo de obter os dados de acesso a contas das mesmas.
        (please add an English translation of this quotation)
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