rollercoaster

See also: roller-coaster and roller coaster

English

A red rollercoaster in the background

Alternative forms

• roller coaster, roller-coaster

Etymology

A univerbation of roller coaster, after the rolling and coasting motions to which the riders are subjected.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹəʊləˌkəʊstə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊlɚˌkoʊstɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

rollercoaster (plural rollercoasters)

1. An amusement ride consisting of a train on a track that rises, falls, twists and turns.
2. (figurative, by extension) A situation characterized by significant fluctuations in direction, emotion or intensity.

   Synonym: rollercoaster ride

   • 2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], London, archived from the original on 9 October 2026:

     Morgan's men reversed their fortunes and swept into the final with three successive victories, including a memorable semi-final demolition of Australia.
     In the final, the rollercoaster continued, only for the heroics of Stokes to leave England as worthy champions, matching the achievement of the England women's team on the same ground two years ago.

Synonyms

• (ride): big dipper, switchback, coaster, 🎢
• (situation in which there are violent changes): merry-go-round, ride, saga, seesaw, soap opera, stir, yo-yo

Hyponyms

• hypercoaster
• megacoaster
• Virginia reel
• watercoaster

Derived terms

• coronacoaster
• lollercoaster
• pollercoaster
• rollercoastering
• rollercoasterish
• rollercoaster ride
• rollercoasting

Descendants

• → Korean: 롤러코스터 (rolleokoseuteo)

• → Japanese: ローラーコースター (rōrākōsutā)
• → Polish: rollercoaster

Translations

amusement ride

• Arabic: أُفْعُوَانِيَّة f (ʔufʕuwāniyya)
• Belarusian: амерыка́нскія го́ркі f pl (amjerykánskija hórki)
• Bulgarian: увеселително влакче n (uveselitelno vlakče), влакче n (vlakče)
• Burmese: ရိုလာကိုစတာ (ruilakuica.ta)
• Catalan: muntanyes russes f pl (Russian mountains)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 過山車 / 过山车 (gwo³ saan¹ ce¹)

  Mandarin: 過山車 / 过山车 (zh) (guòshānchē), 雲霄飛車 / 云霄飞车 (zh) (yúnxiāo fēichē), 空中飛車 / 空中飞车 (kōngzhōng fēichē)

• Czech: horská dráha (cs) f
• Danish: rutschebane
• Dutch: achtbaan (nl) c
• Esperanto: onda fervojo, reltobogano
• Estonian: Ameerika mäed pl
• Faroese: øka f
• Finnish: vuoristorata (fi)
• French: montagnes russes (fr) f pl (Russian mountains)
• Galician: montaña rusa (gl) f
• German: Achterbahn (de) f
• Greek: τρενάκι του λούνα παρκ (trenáki tou loúna park), τρενάκι του τρόμου (el) n (trenáki tou trómou)
• Hebrew: רַכֶּבֶת הָרִים (he) f (rakevet harim)
• Hungarian: hullámvasút (hu)
• Icelandic: rússíbani m
• Indonesian: kereta luncur, wahana halilintar
• Interlingua: montanias russe
• Irish: rollchóstóir m
• Italian: montagne russe f pl, otto volante (it) m, ottovolante (it) m
• Japanese: ローラーコースター (ja) (rōrākōsutā), ジェットコースター (ja) (jettokōsutā)
• Javanese: kréta luncur
• Korean: 롤러코스터 (ko) (rolleokoseuteo), 제트코스터 (jeteukoseuteo), 청룡열차(靑龍列車) (cheongnyong'yeolcha)
• Latin: curriculum retroflexum n, vectura flexuosa f
• Macedonian: лу́да желе́зница f (lúda želéznica)
• Māori: waka rōnaki
• Mongolian: галзуу хулгана (galzuu xulgana)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: berg-og-dal-bane m

  Nynorsk: berg-og-dal-bane m or f

• Persian: ترن هوایی (teran-e havâyi)
• Polish: rollercoaster (pl) m, kolejka górska (pl) f
• Portuguese: montanha-russa (pt) f (Russian mountain)
• Romanian: montagne russe n (Russian mountain)
• Romansh: muntogna russa f
• Russian: америка́нские го́рки (ru) f pl (amerikánskije górki) (American hills)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: влак смрти m

  Latin: vlak smrti m

• Slovak: horská dráha f
• Slovene: vlak smrti
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: padata zeleznicka f (little falling railroad)

  Upper Sorbian: seklowa čara

• Spanish: montaña rusa (es) f (literally “Russian mountain”)
• Swedish: bergochdalbana (sv) c, berg-och-dal-bana (sv) c
• Thai: รถไฟเหาะตีลังกา (rót-fai-hɔ̀-dtii-lang-gaa)
• Turkish: lunapark treni, rusdağı
• Ukrainian: америка́нські гі́рки f pl (amerykánsʹki hírky)
• Vietnamese: tàu lượn siêu tốc (vi)
• Welsh: ffigar-êt m, colli-cylla m

Further reading

• rollercoaster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Polish

rollercoaster

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English rollercoaster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔw.lɛr.kɔw.stɛr/, /ˌrɔ.lɛrˈkɔ.stɛr/
• Rhymes: -ɔwlɛrkɔwstɛr, -ɔstɛr
• Syllabification: ro‧ller‧coa‧ster

Noun

rollercoaster m inan

1. (transport) rollercoaster, coaster (amusement ride consisting of a train on a track that rises, falls, twists, and turns)

   Synonym: kolejka górska

2. rollercoaster, coaster (buggy on a track that rises, falls, twists, and turns)

   Synonym: kolejka górska

Declension

Declension of rollercoaster

	singular	plural
nominative	rollercoaster	rollercoastery
genitive	rollercoastera	rollercoasterów
dative	rollercoasterowi	rollercoasterom
accusative	rollercoaster	rollercoastery
instrumental	rollercoasterem	rollercoasterami
locative	rollercoasterze	rollercoasterach
vocative	rollercoasterze	rollercoastery

Further reading

• “rollercoaster”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “rollercoaster”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)