Why do we say taxi?

Ultimately, the word taxi originates from the ancient Greek word t???? (taxis), which means 'payment'. Taxi is a shortening of the French term 'taximètre'. Germans named this device 'taxameter'. This word stems from the medieval Latin word taxa (taxation), which initially applied to rental cars.



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Taxi VS Cab The earliest form of horse-drawn vehicle available for hire was called a 'cab' (short for cabriolet). The name stuck when cab firms upgraded to motorized vehicles, fitted with a 'taximeter' (which measured how far you'd gone). These were called 'taxi-cabs'. Nowadays either word is used.

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The concept of taxis have been around since the 17th century, when horse-drawn carriages first became available for hire in London in 1605.

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taxi (n.) 1907, shortening of taximeter cab (introduced in London in March 1907), from taximeter automatic meter to record the distance and fare (1898), from French taximètre, from German Taxameter (1890), coined from Medieval Latin taxa tax, charge.

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There's no need to shout “taxi” and indeed, it's actually illegal to shout “taxi” whilst trying to hail a cab.

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Black cab The famous London taxis are actually called 'hackney carriages' but in London we just call them 'black cabs/taxis'. London taxi drivers have to pass a special exam called the Knowledge to get their license so if you take a black cab, you can be sure the driver will know the way.

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Gottlieb Daimler built the world's first dedicated taxi in 1897 called the Daimler Victoria. The taxi came equipped with the newly invented taxi meter. On 16 June 1897, the Daimler Victoria taxi was delivered to Friedrich Greiner, a Stuttgart entrepreneur who started the world's first motorized taxi company.

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A cab is a taxi.

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Taxi is also U.S. slang for “a prison sentence of between five and fifteen years,” says the OED, perhaps from the analogy between a short taxi ride and relatively short prison term.

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Hack is short for hackney (from the Middle English hakeney), which at one time described a horse of average size, used for regular riding—as distinct from stronger horses used for hauling or in war. Such horses were often let out for hire to pull a coach or cab.

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Although there are some phonetic differences, the growth of international tourism made the use of the word “taxi” more and more universal so that, nowadays, almost everyone can understand its meaning.

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FREE NOW Previously known as “MyTaxi”, Free Now digitizes how you hail city cabs. It is active in over 100 European cities, particularly popular in Barcelona, London, Paris, Berlin, and Dublin.

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