A car for hire with a driver that takes passengers to chosen destinations and charges a fare based on distance.
Short for 'taximeter cabriolet'—'taxi' from the French 'taxe' (charge or tax) plus the Greek 'metron' (measure), combined with 'cabriolet,' a type of light carriage. It was invented to describe the new metered cabs of the late 1800s.
The taxicab is one of those words that captured an entire innovation—the taximeter was revolutionary because it replaced negotiated fares with transparent, measured pricing. Every time someone takes an Uber, they're using technology that grew from the radical idea of the taximeter.
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