coach

Borrowed from Middle French coche, from German Kutsche, from Hungarian kocsi. According to historians, the coach was named after the small Hungarian town of Kocs, which made a livelihood from cart building and transport between Vienna and Budapest.

The meaning “instructor/trainer” is from Oxford University slang (c. 1830) for a “tutor” who “carries” one through an exam; the athletic sense is from 1861.^[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəʊtʃ/, [kʰəʊ̯tʃ]
• (US) IPA^(key): /koʊt͡ʃ/, [kʰoʊ̯t͡ʃ]

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -əʊtʃ

coach (plural coaches)

1. A wheeled vehicle, generally pulled by a horse.

   Synonym: carriage

   • 1989 February 12, Jennifer Justice, “A Night At The Opera”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 30, page 9:

     I have a coach waiting. During intermission, would you consent to accompany me for a cooling ride around the city?

2. (rail transport, UK, Australia) A passenger car, either drawn by a locomotive or part of a multiple unit.

   Synonym: carriage

4. (originally Oxford University slang) A trainer or instructor.

   football coach

   spelling coach

   public coach

   horseriding coach

   politics coach

5. (British, Australia) A long-distance, or privately hired, bus.
6. (nautical) The forward part of the cabin space under the poop deck of a sailing ship; the fore-cabin under the quarter deck.
   • 1660 May 13 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “May 3rd, 1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC:

     The commanders all came on board and the council sat in the coach.

7. (chiefly US) The part of a commercial passenger airplane or train reserved for those paying the lower standard fares; the economy section.

   We couldn't afford the good tickets, so we spent the flight crammed in coach.

8. (chiefly US) The lower-fare service whose passengers sit in this part of the airplane or train; economy class.

• coachee

coach (third-person singular simple present coaches, present participle coaching, simple past and past participle coached)

1. (intransitive, sports) To train.
2. (transitive) To instruct; to train.

   She has coached many opera stars.

3. (intransitive) To study under a tutor.
4. (intransitive) To travel in a coach (sometimes coach it).
   • 1653, Edward Waterhouse, A humble Apologie for Learning and Learned Men:

     Affecting genteel fashions, coaching it to all quarters

5. (transitive) To convey in a coach.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     The needy poet sticks to all he meets,
     Coached, carted, trod upon, now loose, now fast.
     And carried off in some dog's tail at last

• → Dutch: coachen

coach (not comparable)

1. (chiefly US) Via the part of a commercial passenger airplane or train reserved for those paying the lower standard fares; via the economy section.

   John flew coach to Vienna, but first-class back home.

• coachability

• Cacho, Chaco, chaco

Borrowed from English coach.

• IPA^(key): /koːtʃ/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): [koːtʃ]
• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): [koʊ̯tʃ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: coach

coach m (plural coaches or coachen, diminutive coachje n)

1. trainer, instructor, tutor, coach
2. counselor

• bondscoach
• coachen

• koets

Borrowed from English coach. Doublet of coche.

• IPA^(key): /kovtʃ/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Agen)):

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coach m (plural coachs)

1. coach, trainer, instructor

• coacher

• “coach”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• cocha

Unadapted borrowing from English coach.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkot͡ʃ/, /ˈkɔt͡ʃ/^[1]
• Rhymes: -otʃ, -ɔtʃ

coach m (invariable)

1. coach (sports instructor)

Unadapted borrowing from English coach, from Middle French coche, from German Kutsche, from Hungarian kocsi.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔwt͡ʂ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔwt͡ʂ
• Syllabification: coach

coach m pers

1. (sports) coach, trainer (person who trains another)
2. (psychology) coach, instructor

   Synonyms: szkoleniowiec, trener

coach m inan

1. coachwork

• “coach”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[1] (in Polish)

Unadapted borrowing from English coach.

• Rhymes: -owtʃi, -otʃi, -otʃ

coach m or f by sense (plural coaches)

1. motivational speaker
2. life coach (professional who helps clients to achieve their personal goals)

Unadapted borrowing from English coach. Doublet of coche.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkout͡ʃ/ [ˈkou̯t͡ʃ]
• Rhymes: -outʃ
• Syllabification: coach

coach m (plural coaches)

1. (sports) coach

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “coach”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “coach”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense

Borrowed from English coach. First attested in 1962.

coach c

1. coach; a trainer or instructor

• “coach”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)