Dictionary Definition
sedan
Noun
1 a car that is closed and that has front and
rear seats and two or four doors
2 a closed litter for one passenger [syn:
sedan
chair]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- an enclosed windowed chair suitable for a single occupant, carried by at least two porters, in equal numbers in front and behind, using wooden rails that passed through metal brackets on the sides of the chair
- In the context of "US|Australia": The most common body style for modern cars, with a boot or trunk.
Synonyms
- litter, sedan chair (chair carried by porters)
- saloon (body style of a car)
Translations
an enclosed chair carried by porters
- Serbian: nosiljka
- Tamil: சரக்கறை சீருந்து(sarakkaRai seerundhu)
a body style for cars
Translations to be checked
translations to be checked
- ttbc French : conduite intérieure
Swedish
Etymology 1
Adverb
- then, after this
(that), afterwards; next in order
- Först försökte vi på mitt sätt, sedan på hans.
-
- First we tried my way, then his.
Synonyms
Conjunction
- since, from the time
that (and often as a consequence of)
- Sedan vi sålde bilen cyklar vi överallt.
-
- Since we sold the car, we bike everywhere.
Synonyms
Preposition
- since; from a given point in time
Synonyms
Extensive Definition
A sedan car, American
English terminology (saloon in
U.K. English), is one of the most common body
styles of the modern automobile. At its most basic, the sedan
is a passenger car with two rows of seats and adequate passenger
space in the rear compartment for adult passengers. The vehicle
most commonly has a separate trunk
(boot in British English), for luggage at the rear. However,
rear-engined
sedans include models by Chevrolet,
Tatra,
and Volkswagen.
Types of sedan
Several versions of the body style exist,
including four-door, two-door, and fastback models.
A sedan seats four or more people and has a fixed
roof that is full-height up to the rear window. The roof structure will
typically have a fixed "B" pillar on
sedan models. Most commonly it is a four-door; two-door models are
rare, but they do occur (more so historically). In the U.S., the
term sedan has been used to denote a car with fixed window frames,
as opposed to the hardtop style without a "B"
pillar and where the sash, if any, winds down with the glass.
However, true hardtops have become increasingly rare.
Notchback sedans
A notchback sedan is a three-box sedan, where the passenger volume is clearly distinct from the trunk volume of the vehicle (when seen from the side). The roof is on one plane, generally parallel to the ground, the rear window at a sharp angle to the roof, and the trunk lid is also parallel to the ground. Historically, this has been a popular and arguably the most traditional form of passenger vehicle.Fastback sedans
A fastback sedan is a two-box sedan, with continuous slope from the roof to the base of the decklid, but excludes the hatchback feature.Marketing
terminology is often misleading in this area - for example,
Daimler
AG calls the Mercedes-Benz
CLS-Class sedan a four-door coupé because of its semi-fastback
design tries to give the impression of a coupé. Certain sedans are
edging close to being one-box vehicles, where the windshield is
steeply raked from the hood and the rear window slopes toward
almost the end of the car, leaving just a short rear deck that is
part of the trunk lid - the 2006 4-door Honda Civic
is an example of this. They are not fastbacks because their
bodyline changes from the roof to the rear deck. Their steeply
raked rear windows end with a decklid that does not continue
down to the bumper. Instead, their rear ends are tall - sometimes
in a Kammback style -
to increase trunk
space.
Typically this design is chosen for its aerodynamic advantages.
Automakers can no longer afford the penalty in fuel
consumption produced by the traditional notchback three box
form.
Two-door sedan
The Society of Automotive Engineers defines such a vehicle as any two-door model with rear accommodation greater than or equal to in volume (a calculation made by adding the legroom, shoulder room, and headroom). By this standard, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, and Mercedes-Benz CL-Class coupés are all two-door sedans. Only a few sources, however (including the magazine Car and Driver), use the two-door sedan label in this manner.In the popular vernacular, a two-door sedan is
defined by appearance and not by volume; vehicles with a B-pillar
between the front and rear windows are generally called two-door
sedans, while hardtops (without the pillar, and often incorporating
a sloping backlight) are called coupés.
The Mazda RX-8 meets the volume
requirement to be called a sedan, but it has vestigial rear-hinged
rear doors, so some call it 2+2-door sedan. Another term for a
coupé endowed with rear-hinged doors is a "quad coupé." Although
this may simply be vernacular, based on a possible copyright by
General
Motors, for its Saturn Ion
Quad-Coupe.
Hardtop sedans
In historic terminology a sedan will have a frame around the door windows, while the hardtop has frameless door glass. A true hardtop sedan design also has no "B" pillar (the roof support behind the front doors). This body style has an open feel, but requires extra underbody strengthening for structural rigidity. The hardtop design can be considered separately (i.e., a vehicle can be simply called a four-door hardtop), or it can be called a hardtop sedan. During the 1960s and 1970s, hardtop sedans were often sold as sport sedans by American manufacturers and were among the top selling body styles. During the 1980s, automakers in the U.S. focused on removing weight and increasing strength, and their new four-door sedans with B-pillars were called pillared hardtops or pillared sedans. The sport sedan term has since been appropriated for other uses. In Japan, and among Japanese manufacturers worldwide, the hardtop design was popular among luxury sedans throughout the 1990s.Hatchback sedan
Hatchback (a.k.a. liftback) sedans typically have the fastback profile, but instead of a trunk lid, the entire back of the vehicle lifts up (using a liftgate or hatch). A vehicle with four passenger doors and a liftgate at the rear can be called a four-door hatchback, four-door hatchback sedan, or five-door sedan. An example of such is the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx. There can also be two-door hatchback sedans (three-door sedans), by the same technical explanation for two-door sedans. Examples of this design are the Volkswagen Golf, and Renault Vel Satis.Chauffeured sedans
Chauffeured limousine sedans are primarily used by businesses for meetings as well as for airport transportation. Main vehicles used for these means are usually the Lincoln Town Car, a Cadillac, or a Mercedes. Chauffeurs are professional drivers, usually with experience in the transportation industry or tourism industry. Chauffeured sedans are owned either by private owners, livery services, or corporations. Large corporations as well as governments commonly provide luxury sedans to their top executives as well as VIP guests. Chauffeured sedans, such as the Lincoln Town Car, may also be stretched into limousines that are capable of seating up to twenty people. Another, smaller number of chauffeured sedans are owned by private individuals who hire chauffeurs to drive them in their own cars.Terminology
Origin
The word sedan is possibly derived from a southern Italian dialect derivative of Italian sedia "chair" (the first sedan was said to have been introduced from Naples). However, Portuguese and Spanish navigators and colonists encountered litters of various sorts in India, Japan, Mexico, and Peru. They were imported into Spain in the late sixteenth century. Soon the fashion spread into France and then England. All the names for these derived from the root "sed-" from the Latin "sella" - the traditional name for a carried chair.The derivation from the town of Sedan in
France, where it was said to have been made or first used, lacks
historical evidence, according to OED. The word sedan was
later used to refer to a litter or windowed box containing a
passenger seat carried by two or more bearers.
International terminology
In North
American English and American Spanish, the term sedan is
used.
In British
English the configuration is called a saloon and has its engine
under the bonnet at the front, and a boot for luggage at the rear.
The British English term is sometimes used by British car
manufacturers in the United States. For example, the Rolls-Royce
Park Ward was sold as a saloon in the United States, while the
smaller Silver
Seraph was called a sedan.
In Australia and
New
Zealand, the American term sedan is used, albeit with the
British terms boot and bonnet being retained. In other languages,
sedans are known as berline (French),
berlina (Spanish,
European
Portuguese, Romanian,
and Italian);
although these terms also may include hatchbacks. These terms,
besides sedan, derive from types of horse-drawn carriages. In German,
the term Limousine is used for sedans, as well as for
limousines.
sedan in Czech: Sedan
sedan in Danish: Sedan (bil)
sedan in German: Limousine (Auto)
sedan in Spanish: Sedán
sedan in Finnish: Sedan
sedan in French: berline
sedan in Croatian: Limuzina
sedan in Italian: Berlina
sedan in Japanese: セダン
sedan in Lithuanian: Sedanas
nah:Tepozcaxitl
tepozmalacatl
sedan in Dutch: Sedan_%28autotype%29
sedan in Polish: Sedan (nadwozie)
sedan in Portuguese: Sedan (automóvel)
sedan in Romanian: Berlină
sedan in Simple English: Sedan
sedan in Swedish: Sedan
sedan in Thai: รถซีดาน
sedan in Chinese: 轎車