jalopy

English

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps from Jalapa, Mexico (now Xalapa), to whose scrapyards used cars were often sent from New Orleans starting in the 1920s. First recorded written use in 1924.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈlɒ.pi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

jalopy (plural jalopies)

1. (US, dated) An old, dilapidated or unpretentious automobile.

   Synonyms: banger, beater; see also Thesaurus:old car

   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 1, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:

     Dean is the perfect guy for the road because he was actually born on the road, when his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles.

   • 2003, Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, chapter 22, in Deadly Reunion:

     There's only a rough track and I doubt if that jalopy of yours will make it.

   • 2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Through most of those early years of restless travel, he dragged his two children and his long-suffering wife, Maryann […] behind him like tin cans tied to the bumper of a jalopy that no car dealer in his right mind would take in trade.

2. (US, dated, slang) A hip, cool, groovy automobile.

Related terms

• jalapeño (possibly)

Translations

old, dilapidated car

• Afrikaans: wrak
• Albanian: karakatinë (sq) f
• Amharic: ጃላፔኖ (jalapēno)
• Arabic: سَيَّارَة بَالِيَة f (sayyāra bāliya)
• Belarusian: тая калымага f (taja kalymaha)
• Bengali: উড়োজাহাজ (bn) (uṛōjahaj)
• Bulgarian: таратайка f (taratajka)
• Catalan: trasto (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 破舊車 / 破旧车 (pòjiù chē)

• Czech: kraksna (cs) f
• Danish: spand (da) c
• Dutch: wrak (nl), barrel (nl)
• Estonian: autorämä
• Finnish: kottero (fi)
• French: guimbarde (fr) f, carriole (fr) f, tas de ferraille (fr) m
• Galician: calhambeque m
• Georgian: ჯალიპი (ǯaliṗi)
• German: alte Kiste f; Klapperkiste f; Schrottkiste f, Schrottmühle f, Rostlaube (de) f
• Greek: παλαιό αυτοκίνητο m (palaió aftokínito)
• Haitian Creole: genbard
• Hebrew: טָרָנטָה (he) f
• Hindi: पुरानी गड़ी f (purānī gaṛī)
• Hungarian: rozzant autó, tragacs (hu)
• Icelandic: bíldrusla f, drusla (is) f
• Indonesian: mobil rongsok
• Italian: catorcio (it) m, macinino (it) m
• Japanese: ジャロピー (jaropī)
• Kannada: ಜಲಪೆನೊ (jalapeno)
• Kazakh: құлағап тұрған ескі көлігі (qūlağap tūrğan eskı kölıgı), драндулет (drandulet)
• Korean: 구식 자동차 (gusik jadongcha), 똥차 (ko) (ttongcha)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: jalopî f

• Latvian: veca automašīna f
• Lithuanian: kleras f
• Luxembourgish: Jalopp
• Macedonian: крнтија f (krntija)
• Malay: mobil tua
• Malayalam: ജലോപ്പി (jalōppi)
• Marathi: खटारगाडी (khaṭārgāḍī)
• Norwegian: kjerra
• Pashto: جولوپي f
• Polish: gruchot (pl) f
• Portuguese: calhambeque (pt) m, chaço (pt) m, lasanha (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਜਲੋਪੀ f (jalopī)
• Romanian: rablă (ro) f
• Russian: драндуле́т (ru) m (drandulét), колыма́га (ru) f (kolymága), развалю́ха (ru) f (razvaljúxa)
• Samoan: fana
• Serbo-Croatian: krntija (sh) f
• Sindhi: جولوپي
• Sinhalese: නටනවා (naṭanawā)
• Slovak: kraksňa f
• Somali: jalalka
• Spanish: cacharro (es) m, carro destartalado m, carraca (es), tartana, carcacha f, tiesto (es) m (Colombia), charchina f (Mesoamerica)
• Swahili: mkweche
• Swedish: bilskrälle (sv), rishög (sv)
• Tagalog: lumang kotse
• Tamil: பழைய ஊர்தி (paḻaiya ūrti)
• Telugu: పాతబడి పనికిరాని మోటారు వాహనము (pātabaḍi panikirāni mōṭāru vāhanamu)
• Thai: รถเก่าแก่ (rt̄h kèā kæ̀)
• Turkish: külüstür araba
• Ukrainian: таратайка f (taratajka)
• Urdu: جولوپی f (jolopī)
• Uzbek: jalopi
• Welsh: siandri m
• Yiddish: דזשאַלאָפּי f (dzhalopi)

Further reading

• “jalopy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “jalopy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “jalopy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “jalopy”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.