Ask for the Subway in London and You Will Get Stairs
A subway is an underground railway in America and a pedestrian tunnel in Britain. It is one of the most practical false friends in English.
A subway is an underground railway — unless you are in Britain, where it is a pedestrian tunnel under a road. The transatlantic split is genuinely inconvenient: an American asking for the subway in London will be directed to a set of steps under a roundabout, and the railway they wanted is called the Underground or the Tube.
- An underground railway (American). *Take the subway uptown.*
- A pedestrian tunnel (British). *Use the subway to cross.*
- Underground — the British word for the railway. *The London Underground.*
- Metro — the usual international term. *The Paris metro.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | subway | A crowded subway. |
| Plural | subways | Two subways. |
| British | underpass | A dark underpass. |
| British | the Tube | On the Tube. |
| International | metro | The metro system. |
- The subway runs all night at weekends.American.
- Take the subway under the dual carriageway.British.
- The metro was extended last year.Neutral international term.
What the underground railway is called
- New York — the subway
- London — the Underground, or the Tube
- Paris — the métro, from Chemin de Fer Métropolitain
- Glasgow — the Subway, which makes Britain's own usage inconsistent
- Many cities — simply metro, now the most widely understood word
From *sub-*, under, plus *way*. It appears in English from the 1820s for any underground passage; the railway sense is American and dates from the 1890s.
What do the British call a subway train?
The Underground or the Tube in London, and the Metro in Newcastle. Glasgow, confusingly, calls its system the Subway.
Why does Britain use subway for a footpath?
Because the original English sense was simply an underground passage. Britain kept it; America applied it to railways.