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hatchback

hatchback

12 2.7
A car with a back door that opens upward to reach the storage area
  • noun
  • /ˈhæʧˌbæk/
translation icon : hatchback
  • The family loaded their bags into the spacious trunk of the new hatchback before heading to the beach.

It's just an old hatchback, which maybe is part of the fun.

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Examples

  • The most comfortable car for me of all time was a 1976 Honda Civic hatchback.

    Blog text (25)
  • Instead this is a hatchback for added practicality.

  • It's just an old hatchback, which maybe is part of the fun.

  • Hey, I have a hatchback.

  • And there, in front, her little blue hatchback.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • But it was a hatchback with a compartment behind the back seat.

    Academic text (2011)
  • My first car was a Holden Astra hatchback, OK.

  • Father Jameson owns the silver Honda hatchback three cars away.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Eric opens the rear hatchback and digs through the plentiful supplies.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • The moment there's an electric two-door hatchback (preferably with a collapsible backseat), I'm sold.

    Blog text (7)

Compounds

A rear car door that lifts up to allow access to the storage area

How Sporty

supercar
4 4.5
sports car
50 2.8
scooby
  • Jargon
9.9
hatchback
12 2.7
compact
6 3.0
supermini
  • UK
4.7

Surface Forms

hatchback singular
hatchbacks plural

Morphology

hatchback = hatch + back (transparent) = hatch + back

The compound is directly built from 'hatch' (a rear door/opening) + 'back' (rear), so the meaning 'car with a rear hatch' is easily derivable.

Etymology

The word hatchback comes from hatch meaning 'small door' and back meaning 'the rear', so a hatchback is a car with a door at the back that opens up to reach the space for bags.