Standard Lemma guide

hovercraft

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɒv.ə.kɹɑːft/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɒv.ə.kɹæft/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhʌv.ə.kɹɑːft/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhʌv.ə.kɹæft/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, US: /ˈhʌvɚ.kɹæft/
  • Canada, US: /ˈhɑvɚ.kɹæft/
  • CMU ARPABET: HH AH1 V ER0 K R AE2 F T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A vehicle supported on a cushion of air, able to traverse many different types of terrain and travel over water, used for transport.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: genericized trademark

Topics: transport, vehicles

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ACV, air-cushion vehicle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: GEM, ground-effect machine, craft, vehicle, machine

2

noun

Meaning 2

a craft capable of moving over water or land on a cushion of air created by jet engines

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ground-effect machine

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: craft

History

Etymology

From hover + -craft. Originally a trademark by Saunders-Roe Limited, a British aero- and marine-engineering company.

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: sweeftuig — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Arabic: حَوَّامَة (ḥawwāma) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Basque: aerolabaingailu — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Catalan: aerolliscador — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Chinese Mandarin: 氣墊船 /气垫船 (qìdiànchuán) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Czech: vznášedlo — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Danish: luftpudebåd — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Danish: svævebåd — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Dutch: hovercraft — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Dutch: luchtkussenvoertuig — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Esperanto: teraplano — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Faroese: flogbátur — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Finnish: ilmatyynyalus — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Finnish: pintaliitäjä — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • French: aéroglisseur — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • German: Hovercraft — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • German: Luftkissenfahrzeug — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • German: Luftkissenboot — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Greek: αερόστρωμνο (aeróstromno) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Hebrew: רַחֶפֶת — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Hebrew: רחפת (rakhefet) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Hungarian: légpárnás — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Icelandic: svifnökkvi — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Indonesian: kapal katung — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Indonesian: kapal bantalan udara — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Italian: aeroscafo — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Italian: aeronave — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Italian: aeroscivolante — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Italian: aeroslittante — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Italian: hovercraft — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Japanese: ホバークラフト (hobākurafuto) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Kazakh: әуе негіз кемесi (äue negız kemesi) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Korean: 공기부양정 (gonggibuyangjeong) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Korean: 호버크래프트 (hobeokeuraepeuteu) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Luxembourgish: Loftkësseboot — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Macedonian: лебдилка (lebdilka) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Macedonian: ховеркрафт (hoverkraft) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Malay: hoverkraf — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Māori: waka topaki — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Navajo: tsin naaʼeeł dah nahaleʼí — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Norman: aérodrisseux — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Norman: aéroglisseux — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Norwegian Bokmål: luftputebåt — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Norwegian Bokmål: svevebåt — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: luftputebåt — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: svevebåt — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Persian: هواناو — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Polish: poduszkowiec — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Portuguese: aerobarco — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Portuguese: aerodeslizador — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Portuguese: hovercraft — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Russian: су́дно на возду́шной поду́шке (súdno na vozdúšnoj podúške) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Russian: СВП (SVP) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Russian: хо́веркра́фт (xóverkráft) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Serbo-Croatian: хо̏веркрафт — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Serbo-Croatian: hȍverkraft — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Spanish: aerodeslizador — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Spanish: hovercraft (hóverkraft) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Swedish: svävare — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Turkish: hava yastıklı tekne — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Ukrainian: судно́ на пові́тряній поду́шці (sudnó na povítrjanij podúšci) — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
  • Vietnamese: ca nô đệm khí — vehicle supported on a cushion of air
Real reading context

hovercraft in complete knowledge articles