Caravan: A Towed Home, and a Line of Camels
In British English a caravan is a towed holiday home. The older meaning is a company of travellers crossing a desert together, which is where the word came from.
Caravan travelled a long way to reach a British campsite. Its original sense is a group of traders crossing dangerous country in convoy, and the modern towed trailer is named for that idea of a home on the move.
- A towed holiday home (British). *They towed the caravan to Cornwall.*
- A group of travellers or animals. *A camel caravan crossing the Sahara.*
- A line of vehicles moving together. *A caravan of aid lorries.*
- To travel with such a vehicle (verb). *They caravanned around Wales.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | caravan | A touring caravan. |
| Verb | caravan | They caravan every summer. |
| Place | caravanserai | An old caravanserai on the route. |
| US equivalent | trailer | A travel trailer. |
| Related | motorhome | A six-berth motorhome. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The caravan site fills up in August.British holiday vocabulary.
- Caravans once carried silk across Central Asia.The historical trade sense.
- A caravan of vehicles followed the convoy.Any long line moving together.
Caravan, motorhome and trailer
- Caravan — towed behind a car, no engine of its own
- Motorhome — engine and living space in one vehicle
- Campervan — a smaller motorhome, often a converted van
- Trailer — the American word for a caravan, and also for a permanent mobile home
- Caravanserai — the roadside inn where an old caravan stopped for the night
From Persian *karwan*, a company of travellers, through French. The trade caravans of the Silk Road gave the word its first meaning; the British holiday caravan appeared only in the twentieth century.
Caravan or trailer?
Caravan in Britain, Ireland and Australia. In the United States it is a travel trailer, and caravan means the convoy sense.
What was a caravanserai?
A walled roadside inn along trade routes, with space for animals and goods as well as travellers.