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With extreme heat currently gripping vast swathes of the United States and Europe, subjecting tens of millions of people to dangerous temperatures far above what is usual for this time of year, even Germany’s famed autobahn is buckling under the strain, requiring emergency repairs.—Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019 Beer plays Laura, a piano student at a music academy in Berlin, first seen in the opening shots on an autobahn overpass looking down at a river.—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2025 During my test driving, which comprised about 45 miles, in a variety of modes and at a variety of speeds including close to 100mph on a German autobahn, the car achieved close to 3 miles per kWh.—James Morris, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025 The other side: Richmond, Virginia, is a veritable autobahn by comparison, with drivers making the same distance trip in under 10 minutes on average.—Shawna Chen, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for autobahn
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from German Autobahn, from Autoauto entry 1 + Bahn "path, way, lane," going back to Middle High German ban, bane "cleared path, track," akin to Middle Low German & Middle Dutch bāne in same sense, of uncertain origin
Note:
The Germanic etymon represented by Bahn is perhaps akin to Old High German bano "killer, murderer," Old English bana, etc. (see bane entry 1), if both descend from a verb meaning "strike, beat down." See Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Band 1, pp. 460-61.
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