Luggage Is Named For the Effort of Carrying It
Luggage is the bags you travel with. The word is built on lug, meaning to drag something heavy.
Luggage is what you carry your things in when you travel. The name is honest about the experience: it comes from *lug*, to drag or haul with effort. Wheels have improved matters since the word was coined, but only recently — wheeled suitcases did not become common until the 1970s.
- Bags and cases for travelling. *Hand luggage only.*
- Baggage — the same thing, and also emotional history. *Emotional baggage.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | luggage | Excess luggage. |
| Verb | lug | Lug it upstairs. |
| Related | baggage | Baggage reclaim. |
| Compound | hand luggage | Hand luggage allowance. |
| Compound | luggage rack | The luggage rack above. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Leave your luggage at the desk.Uncountable: never luggages.
- One item of hand luggage per passenger.Item of is how you count it.
- He lugged the case up four flights.The verb it comes from.
Travel bag words
- Suitcase — a rigid or semi-rigid case
- Holdall — a soft bag with handles, British
- Duffel bag — a cylindrical soft bag
- Carry-on — American for hand luggage
- Baggage reclaim — where checked bags arrive, called baggage claim in America
From *lug*, a verb of Scandinavian origin meaning to pull or drag, plus the collective ending *-age*. It appears in English from the sixteenth century.
Luggage or baggage?
They mean the same. Airlines and Americans tend to say baggage; luggage is more common in British shops and homes.
Is luggage countable?
No. Say a piece or item of luggage. The same rule applies to baggage, furniture and equipment.