funicular

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkjʊlə(ɹ)

Adjective

funicular (not comparable)

1. Of, pertaining to, resembling, or powered by a rope or cable.
2. (medicine) Of or pertaining to the umbilical cord.
3. (botany) Having a fleshy covering of the seed formed from the funiculus, the attachment point of the seed.
4. (geometry) Synonym of catenary.

Derived terms

• funicularly
• funicular polygon
• intrafunicular
• perifunicular

Translations

powered by a rope or cable

• Bulgarian: въ̀жен (bg) (vằžen)
• Catalan: funicular (ca)
• Danish: kabeldrevet
• French: funiculaire (fr)
• Portuguese: funicular (pt)
• Turkish: füniküler (tr)

Noun

funicular (plural funiculars)

1. A particular type of rail transit system which ascends a steep urban or mountain incline, having usually two cars sharing a single pair of tracks, with the cars linked by a moving cable and an arrangement of pulleys such that the descending car assists in the hoisting of the ascending car, i.e. the two cars serve as counterweights for each other.

   Synonyms: funicular railway, cliff railway

   • 2021 January 13, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Spectacular funiculars”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 50:

     England's funiculars mostly hug the coast, and this is no coincidence. The development of the Victorian and Edwardian seaside resort played a central role in the uptake of funicular railways across England.

Translations

rail transit system

• Arabic: سِكَّة حَدِيد مُعَلَّقَة f (sikkat ḥadīd muʕallaqa), سِكَّة حَدِيد وَتَرِيَّة f (sikkat ḥadīd watariyya)
• Armenian: ֆունիկուլյոր (hy) (funikulyor)
• Basque: funikular
• Belarusian: фуникулѐр m
• Bulgarian: въ̀жена лѝния (vằžena lìnija), фуникуле́р m (funikulér)
• Catalan: funicular (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 纜索鐵路 / 缆索铁路 (lǎnsuǒ tiělù)

• Chuvash: фуникулёр (funik̬uljor)
• Czech: pozemní lanovka f
• Danish: kabelbane (da)
• Dutch: funiculaire (nl), kabelbaan (nl) c, kabelspoorbaan c
• Esperanto: funikularo
• Finnish: kiskoköysirata, funikulaari (fi)
• French: funiculaire (fr) m
• Georgian: ფუნიკულიორი (puniḳuliori)
• German: Standseilbahn (de) f
• Hindi: रज्जुरेल m (rajjurel)
• Hungarian: siklóvasút
• Icelandic: fjallatoglest
• Italian: funicolare (it) f
• Japanese: 鋼索鉄道 (こうさくてつどう, kōsaku tetsudō), ケーブルカー (ja) (kēburu-kā)
• Korean: 강삭철도 (gangsakcheoldo)
• Latvian: funikulers m, funikulieris m
• Ligurian: funicolâre f
• Lithuanian: funikulierius m
• Macedonian: искачница f (iskačnica)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kabelbane

  Nynorsk: kabelbane

• Polish: funikular (pl) m
• Portuguese: funicular (pt) m
• Romanian: funicular (ro) n
• Russian: фуникулёр (ru) m (funikuljór)
• Samogitian: fonėkolierios
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: успѝњача f

  Latin: uspìnjača (sh) f

• Slovak: pozemná lanovka f
• Slovene: funikular m, tirna vzpenjača f
• Spanish: funicular (es) m
• Swedish: bergbana (sv) c
• Turkish: füniküler (tr)
• Ukrainian: фунікуле́р m (funikulér)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central, Northwestern) [fu.ni.kuˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [fu.ni.kuˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [fu.ni.kuˈlaɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

funicular m or f (masculine and feminine plural funiculars)

1. funicular

Noun

funicular m (plural funiculars)

1. cable car, funicular

Further reading

• “funicular”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “funicular”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “funicular” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “funicular”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈlaʁ/ [fu.ni.kuˈlah]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈlaʁ/ [fu.ni.kuˈlah]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈlaɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈlaʁ/ [fu.ni.kuˈlaχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈlaɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈlaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈlaɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /fu.ni.kuˈla.ɾi/

Adjective

funicular m or f (plural funiculares)

1. funicular (powered by a rope or cable)

Noun

funicular m (plural funiculares)

1. funicular (rail transit system which ascends an incline)

Further reading

• “funicular”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “funicular”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin fūniculus (“cord”), diminutive of fūnis (“cord”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [fu.ni.kuˈlaʳ]

Noun

funicular n

1. rope railway

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /funikuˈlaɾ/ [fu.ni.kuˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: fu‧ni‧cu‧lar

Noun

funicular m (plural funiculares)

1. funicular, cable car

Further reading

• “funicular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026