Truck Is a Lorry in Britain and Once Meant Barter
A truck is a large road vehicle. The word had a completely separate life meaning exchange of goods.
A truck is a large motor vehicle for carrying goods, called a *lorry* in British English. A separate and older word *truck* meant barter or exchange, and it survives in *have no truck with*, meaning to refuse to deal with something. The nineteenth-century *Truck Acts* outlawed paying workers in goods rather than money. The vehicle sense comes from a different root, probably Greek *trokhos*, a wheel.
- A goods vehicle. *A delivery truck.*
- Lorry — the British word. *A lorry.*
- Barter (archaic). *Truck and trade.*
- Have no truck with — refuse to deal. *No truck with it.*
- Greek — *trokhos*, a wheel. *The vehicle source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | truck | A truck. |
| Plural | trucks | Trucks. |
| Verb | truck | Trucked. |
| British | lorry | A lorry. |
| Agent | trucker | A trucker. |
- The truck delivered at dawn.Vehicle.
- I will have no truck with it.Idiom.
- The Truck Acts banned payment in goods.History.
What the Truck Acts did
- Employers had paid workers in goods or company tokens
- Tokens were spendable only at the employer's own shop
- Prices there were often inflated
- The Truck Acts from 1831 required payment in coin
- The system was known as truck, from the barter sense
The vehicle is probably from Latin *trochus*, an iron hoop, from Greek *trokhos*, a wheel. The barter sense is from Old French *troquer*, to exchange.
What does have no truck with mean?
To refuse to deal with something, from the older sense of truck meaning barter or exchange.
What were the Truck Acts?
British laws from 1831 requiring workers to be paid in coin rather than in goods or tokens redeemable only at the employer's shop.