Should the dictionary definition of car be changed?

A British car manufacturer wants to re-write history. Well okay, not exactly. But Jaguar Land Rover have appealed to the Oxford dictionary to have the definition of the word car changed. And we’re here for it.

For a long time, most of us have unanimously called anything with four wheels and five seats that drives on the road, a car.

But, the actual definition of the word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (which hardly anyone uses now that we all have smartphones anyway) is;

/ka:/
noun: car; plural noun: cars
A road vehicle, typically with four wheels, powered by an internal combustion engine and able to carry a small number of people.
synonyms: motor car, automobile, motor, machine

And the definition for motor vehicle isn’t doing any favours for electric cars either;

/moh-ter-vi??kl:/

noun: motor vehicle; plural noun: motor vehicles
A road vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine.

Technically, all of this means that spaceships like the Jaguar I-PACE (hence JLR’s request), Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Kona Electric are not in fact, cars.

So in a world where everything apparently needs a label, is there a word we can all decide on for anything with four wheels and powered by an internal combustion engine, electric motor, a combination of the two (hybrid), hydrogen fuel cell etc?

And more importantly, does it even matter? Or is this just another form or cultural appropriation? Electric vehicles are cars too! How many times do we use slang or colloquial language to describe something instead of what the Oxford dictionary calls it? Pretty often, we reckon.

Is it worth a nation-wide dictionary recall? Nah. Would we have to change the name of our website? Maybe. Vehiclesales just does not have the same ring to it...

Related: How these famous car brands got their names

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