乗のり合あい自じ動どう車しゃ

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Meanings

1

noun

bus (on a regular route); transit bus; fixed-route bus

Historical term for a bus that operates on a fixed route, picking up passengers along the way. Now largely replaced by 路線バス (rosen basu) in modern usage.

Kanji

乗ride, power, multiplication
合fit, suit, join
自oneself
動move, motion, change
車car

Related words

路ろ線せんバス
Modern equivalent; 乗合自動車 is the older term, now mostly historical.
バス
General modern word for bus; 乗合自動車 specifies a fixed-route, shared-ride bus.

Built from

乗のり合あい+自じ動どう車しゃ

Written forms

乗のり合あい自じ動どう車しゃ
Standard kanji spelling for this historical term.
乗のり合あい自じ動どう車しゃ
Variant with okurigana; less common but still encountered.
乗のり合あい自じ動どう車しゃ
Mixed okurigana variant; rarely used.

Etymology

Compound of 乗合 (noriai, 'riding together') + 自動車 (jidōsha, 'automobile'). The term dates from the early 20th century when motorized shared-ride vehicles were introduced.