тачка (tachka)

What it means

1. 1.

   A car; motor. The default informal word, with no implication about the quality of the vehicle — a тачка can be a wreck or a new Mercedes.

2. 2.

   In older usage it also meant a taxi, and поймать тачку 'to flag down a car' is still said by people who remember when any driver would stop for a fare.

Literally: wheelbarrow

Examples with translations

• Он новую тачку взял в кредит.

  He's bought a new motor on finance.

• Тачку поймаем, тут недалеко.

  We'll flag something down, it's not far.

Where it comes from

The ordinary word for a wheelbarrow or handcart, applied to motor cars with deliberate understatement. The taxi sense comes from the era when private drivers picking up passengers was the normal way to get around.

Other forms

Romanised as:

tachka