Phrase guide

train surfing

noun · verb · 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

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Riding on the roof, sides or back of a train, sometimes as a form of illegal extreme sport.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • 1999: Deborah Lupton, Risk - It is also evident in the words of a sixteen-year-old Australian boy discussing the pleasure of ‘train-surfing', or riding a moving train on its roof. [published in UK]
  • a2006: Mary Deyo, Jinx Magazine, read at https://web.archive.org/web/20120924212034/http://www.jinxmagazine.com/train_surfing.html on 14 May 2006 - In 1989 alone gruesome train surfing accidents killed 150 Brazilian kids and injured 170 more. ... Attempts to stop train surfing have proved ineffective. ... [published in USA]
  • 1998: Marc D Feldman, Jacqueline M Feldman, Stranger Than Fiction: When Our Minds Betray Us - "Subway surfing", "car surfing" and "train surfing" are new sports among adolescents in the United States, Brazil and Europe, for instance -- but with the thrill of hanging off the speeding vehicles has come the utterly predictable limb loss and death. [published in USA]
  • 1999: Infiltration, Infilnews 7, November 1999 read at http://www.infiltration.org/resources-infilnews07.html on 22 May 2006 - The youth jumped on the platform attached to the train, dismounting a few minutes later. ... According to a Rotterdam paper: "In the Netherlands train surfing is not practiced regularly. In 1997 a French boy was killed when he tried to surf a Dutch train with his friend." [published in Netherlands and Canada]
  • 2002: BBC News, read at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2542565.stm on 22 May 2006 - Tube death blamed on 'train surfing': A man killed in an accident at an underground station was reportedly seen trying to hang on to the side of a train. [published in UK]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

present participle and gerund of train surf

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 掛火車 /挂火车 (guàhuǒchē) — Translations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 扒火車 /扒火车 (bāhuǒchē) — Translations