What do Americans call a parking lot?
Don't use the word `parking' to refer to a place where cars are parked. Instead, say car park in British English and parking lot in American English.
Don't use the word `parking' to refer to a place where cars are parked. Instead, say car park in British English and parking lot in American English.
Off-street parking: the lots are called Parkplatz, while above-ground parking is called Parkhaus. Underground garages are called Tiefgarage. Parking regulations: on one-way streets, you should park in the same direction as travel.
Car park is the British English term, the North American English term is parking lot. A muliple-storied building where cars may be parked is referred to as a multi-storey car park in British English, and a parking garage in American English.
A driveway (also called drive in UK English) is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group.
Also, a US sidewalk is a British pavement, and curb is spelled kerb (curb in UK English is a verb i.e. to “curb your enthusiasm”).
Note - *if the sink is in the kitchen - it's a sink, but if it's in the bathroom it's a basin. Another huge difference that causes great confusion is writing the date.
Chips (UK) / French Fries (US)
Meanwhile, Brits call fat strips of potato that are (usually) deep fried and eaten with plenty of salt and vinegar “chips”. In the US these are “French Fries”, or often just “fries”.
What do the Brits call a windshield?
American: Windshield
The front window of the car is named the windscreen in the UK, while in the USA, they've tweaked it just slightly to read windshield. Both 'screen' and 'shield' suggest protection and so are still quite similar in their meaning, linguistically.
In British English, the boot of a car is the covered space, usually at the back, where you put things such as luggage or shopping. Is the boot open? In American English, this part of a car is called the trunk. We put our bags in the trunk.

Definition of parking lot
: an area used for the parking of motor vehicles.
- garage.
- park.
- car park.
- parking garage.
- stable.
Parking definition
(slang) Kissing or caressing in a vehicle stopped in a secluded spot. noun.
"When you ask Canadians what they call the building where they park their cars, you get something from 'parking garage' to 'parkade'. 'Parkade' is Western Canadian, mostly, 'parking garage' is more Ontario and the East.
In Canada, we call a parking garage called a parkade.
It is called a sidewalk in American English, but can also be called a pavement (mainly British English and South African English), a footpath (Australian English, Irish English, Indian English and New Zealand English) or footway (Engineering term).
Motorway
In Britain, a multi-lane controlled-access road is known as a motorway, a word that never caught on in the United States.
They are officially known as "ring junctions". The first magic roundabout was constructed in 1972 in Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, designed by Frank Blackmore, inventor of the mini-roundabout.
What do Brits call a backyard?
In British English, these areas would usually be described as a garden, similarly subdivided into a front garden and a back garden. The term yard is reserved for a hard surfaced area usually enclosed or at least with limited access.
Bog roll. Taken from the 16th-century Scottish/Irish word meaning 'soft and moist,' bog means restroom or lavatory. Bog roll, naturally, is an idiom for toilet paper. This will come in especially handy if you find yourself in a dire situation in the loo.
Bandaid is common in both America and Australia but in the UK, plaster is what local people will say. There are several words which are not the same in British English as they are in Australian or American English.
noun, plural brol·lies. British Informal. an umbrella.
In America, you'll often hear the toilet referred to as the 'restroom'. This alternative word for toilet first gained popular usage in the early twentieth century.
A wardrobe is a tall piece of furniture, usually in a bedroom, that has space for hanging clothes. I hung my dress up in the wardrobe. A wardrobe is sometimes built into the wall of a room, rather than being a separate piece of furniture. In American English, a built-in wardrobe is called a closet.
To most of the rest of the English-speaking world, a biscuit is what Americans would refer to as either a cookie or a cracker. Biscuits can be sweet (shortbread) or savory.
American | British |
---|---|
tail light | tail lamp/tail light |
trunk | boot |
windshield | windscreen |
windshield wipers | windscreen wipers |
It's called a fridge. Weirdly we British call the fridge a fridge, short for 'refrigerator', though others call it an icebox, because they are traditionalists* whereas we tend to move with the times… Specifically the 18th Century.
One commenter said they're ubiquitous in the UK where many homes have single-basin sinks, and said a separate tub makes it easy for Brits to pour cold tea down the drain without dirtying water used for soaking dishes.
What do Brits call Americans?
Yankee is sometimes abbreviated as “Yank.” People from all over the world, including Great Britain, Australia, and South America, use the term to describe Americans.
Word | British Pronunciation | American Pronunciation |
---|---|---|
1. Advertisement | uhd-VER-tis-muhnt | AD-ver-ties-muhnt |
2. Bald | bor-ld | bold |
3. Clique | cleek | clik |
4. Either | eye-thuh | ee-thuhr |
Mashed potato, mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English) or mashed taters, colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a side dish to meat or vegetables.
It is also occasionally called a jockey box, especially in the upper Rocky Mountain states in the United States, such as Idaho.
However, a biscuit in the U.K. and a cookie in the U.S. are inherently the same thing. The big difference, at least in the U.K., is that biscuits are hard and cookies are soft and pliable. In the U.S., the meeting point between the two might be a scone, but that's a discussion for another time.
Those in Britain (and most 'Commonwealth' countries) use "petrol" as a shortened version of "Petroleum". Americans use "gas" as a shortened version of "gasoline."
British English (BrE) | American English (AmE) |
---|---|
Boot | Trunk |
Bumper | Bumper, fender |
Car | Car, automobile |
Car park | Parking lot |
In the US, we call a sport utility vehicle an SUV, while in the UK it goes by the name 4X4 (four by four).
Multilevel or multi-storey parking garage
Less common are parking garages that use lifts to go from level to level. Then there are also parking garages with robotic systems that move cars from one level to another.
plenty | oodles |
---|---|
heap | multiplicity |
quantity | myriad |
store | bundle |
bunch | pile |
What is the fancy word for a lot?
lots | plenty |
---|---|
an abundance | a plethora |
a slew | a stack |
a variety | a wealth |
loads | oodles |
parking | Business English
the act of leaving a car somewhere for a period of time: Parking is forbidden in the city centre. a space or area where vehicles can be left: We offer free parking to all members.
(Learn how and when to remove this template message) Valet parking is a parking service offered by some restaurants, stores, and other businesses. In contrast to "self-parking", where customers find a parking space on their own, customers' vehicles are parked for them by a person called a valet.
Pejorative terms include beater, bucket, clunker, crate, heap, jalopy, junker, rattletrap, and wreck. (“Gas guzzler,” meanwhile, emphasizes a car's lack of fuel economy, and “land yacht” also indicates excessive size.)
This person is called a valet. The valet parking service is often offered at restaurants, hotels, stores and other businesses.
A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface.
garage | carport |
---|---|
storage | car stall |
lock-up | car port |
parking lot |
In American English, when a house has a sizeable space in front of the house and behind the house, we call these front yards and back yards.
If you want a bag of what Americans call 'chips' in the UK, just ask for crisps.
In American English, the most common term for a private toilet is "bathroom", regardless of whether a bathtub or shower is present.
What is a large parking lot called?
A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a building designed for car, motorcycle & bicycle parking and where there are a number ...
garage | park |
---|---|
stable | car park |
parking garage | parkade |
It is called a sidewalk in American English, but can also be called a pavement (mainly British English and South African English), a footpath (Australian English, Irish English, Indian English and New Zealand English) or footway (Engineering term).
Q: Why do British people say Toilet and Americans say bathroom? Many English rooms, called a toilet, consist of a toilet, but not a bath. To call it a bathroom would be odd. Many English bathrooms consist of a bath and washbasin, but do not have a toilet.