Lorry vs. Truck — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on June 8, 2024
A "Lorry" is a term primarily used in the UK for a large motor vehicle designed to carry goods. A "Truck" is the American equivalent, also designed for transporting cargo. The terms are generally interchangeable but region-specific.
Difference Between Lorry and Truck
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Key Differences
A "Lorry" is primarily a British term, referring to a large motor vehicle equipped to carry goods or heavy loads. This term is most commonly used in the United Kingdom and countries with British influence. The word "Lorry" is also prevalent in Commonwealth countries. On the other hand, a "Truck" is the term more commonly used in the United States to describe a vehicle designed to transport cargo. The word "Truck" is used not just in the U.S. but also in other parts of the world, making it more universally recognized compared to "Lorry."
In terms of grammar and usage, both "Lorry" and "Truck" function as nouns. While the word "Lorry" is used in British English, the word "Truck" is employed in American English. Both words can be pluralized, with "Lorries" being the plural form of "Lorry" and "Trucks" the plural of "Truck."
Regarding size and types, lorries and trucks come in various sizes and configurations, such as articulated lorries or pickup trucks. However, in the UK, "lorry" usually refers to larger vehicles, while in the U.S., the term "truck" can also refer to smaller pickup trucks.
Comparison Chart
Basic Definition
Large motor vehicle for carrying goods
Vehicle for transporting cargo
Regional Usage
UK, Commonwealth
United States, globally
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Part of Speech
Noun
Noun
Plural Form
Lorries
Trucks
Size and Types
Usually larger
Can be smaller (e.g., pickup)
Compare with Definitions
Lorry
A term used for freight-carrying vehicles in British English.
The lorry was stuck in traffic.
Truck
A large, heavy road vehicle used for carrying goods, materials, or troops; a lorry.
Lorry
A large motor vehicle designed for carrying heavy loads.
The lorry carried construction materials.
Truck
A motorized vehicle used for transporting goods.
The truck delivered the packages on time.
Lorry
A heavy-duty vehicle used for business and industrial purposes.
The lorry was loaded with coal.
Truck
A common term globally for freight-carrying vehicles.
The truck was carrying electronics.
Lorry
A vehicle commonly used in the UK and Commonwealth countries for cargo.
The lorry was en route to the warehouse.
Truck
A term that includes various sizes, from pickup to big rigs.
His pickup truck was parked in the driveway.
Lorry
A large, heavy motor vehicle for transporting goods or troops; a truck
A lorry driver
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction, with a cabin that is independent of the payload portion of the vehicle.
Lorry
A motor truck.
Truck
A railway bogie.
Lorry
(British) A large and heavy motor vehicle designed to carry goods or soldiers; a truck
Truck
A wooden disc at the top of a ship's mast or flagstaff, with holes for halyards to slide through.
Lorry
A truck with an open carriage
Truck
Barter.
Lorry
(dated) A barrow or truck for shifting baggage, as at railway stations.
Truck
Small wares.
Lorry
(dated) A small cart or wagon used on the tramways in mines to carry coal or rubbish.
Truck
Market-garden produce, especially vegetables
A truck garden
Lorry
(obsolete) A large, low, horse-drawn, four-wheeled cart without sides; also, a similar wagon modified for use on railways.
Truck
Convey by truck
The food was trucked to St Petersburg
Lorry
To transport by, or as if by, lorry.
Truck
Barter or exchange.
Lorry
A large low horse-drawn wagon without sides
Truck
Any of various heavy motor vehicles designed for carrying or pulling loads.
Lorry
A large truck designed to carry heavy loads; usually without sides
Truck
A hand truck.
Lorry
A British term for a vehicle used for transporting goods.
The lorry was loaded with furniture.
Truck
A wheeled platform, sometimes equipped with a motor, for conveying loads in a warehouse or freight yard.
Truck
A set of bookshelves mounted on four wheels or casters, used in libraries.
Truck
One of the swiveling frames of wheels under each end of a railroad car or trolley car.
Truck
Either of the frames housing a pair of wheels on a skateboard or landboard.
Truck
(Nautical) A small piece of wood placed at the top of a mast or flagpole, usually having holes through which halyards can be passed.
Truck
Chiefly British A railroad freight car without a top.
Truck
The trading of goods or services without the exchange of money; barter.
Truck
Articles of commerce; trade goods.
Truck
Garden produce raised for the market.
Truck
(Informal) Worthless goods; stuff or rubbish
"I was mooning over some old papers, or letters, or ribbons, or some such truck" (Edna Ferber).
Truck
(Informal) Dealings; business
We'll have no further truck with them.
Truck
To transport by truck.
Truck
To carry goods by truck.
Truck
To drive a truck.
Truck
(Slang) To move or travel in a steady but easy manner.
Truck
To have dealings or commerce; traffic
They were trucking with smugglers.
Truck
To exchange; barter.
Truck
To peddle.
Truck
A small wheel or roller, specifically the wheel of a gun carriage.
Truck
The ball on top of a flagpole.
Truck
(nautical) On a wooden mast, a circular disc (or sometimes a rectangle) of wood near or at the top of the mast, usually with holes or sheaves to reeve signal halyards; also a temporary or emergency place for a lookout. "Main" refers to the mainmast, whereas a truck on another mast may be called (on the mizzenmast, for example) "mizzen-truck".
Truck
A heavier motor vehicle designed to carry goods or to pull a semi-trailer designed to carry goods
Mexican open-bed trucks haul most of the fresh produce that comes into the United States from Mexico.
Truck
A lorry with a closed or covered carriage
Truck
A railroad car, chiefly one designed to carry goods
Truck
Any smaller wagon/cart or vehicle of various designs, pushed or pulled by hand or (obsolete) pulled by an animal, used to move and sometimes lift goods, like those in hotels for moving luggage or in libraries for moving books.
Truck
Abbreviation of railroad truck or wheel truck; A pivoting frame, one attached to the bottom of the bed of a railway car at each end, that rests on the axle and which swivels to allow the axle (at each end of which is a solid wheel) to turn with curves in the track.
Truck
The part of a skateboard or roller skate that joins the wheels to the deck, consisting of a hanger, baseplate, kingpin, and bushings, and sometimes mounted with a riser in between.
Truck
(theater) A platform with wheels or casters.
Truck
Dirt or other messiness.
Truck
Small, humble items; things, often for sale or barter.
Truck
(historical) The practice of paying workers in kind, or with tokens only exchangeable at a shop owned by the employer [forbidden in the 19th century by the Truck Acts].
Truck
Garden produce, groceries (see truck garden).
Truck
Social intercourse; dealings, relationships.
Truck
(intransitive) To drive a truck.
My father has been trucking for 20 years.
Truck
(transitive) To convey by truck.
Last week, Cletus trucked 100 pounds of lumber up to Dubuque.
Truck
To travel or live contentedly.
Keep on trucking!
Truck
To persist, to endure.
Keep on trucking!
Truck
To move a camera parallel to the movement of the subject.
Truck
To fight or otherwise physically engage with.
Truck
To run over or through a tackler in American football.
Truck
To fail; run out; run short; be unavailable; diminish; abate.
Truck
To give in; give way; knuckle under; truckle.
Truck
To deceive; cheat; defraud.
Truck
To tread (down); stamp on; trample (down).
Truck
(transitive) To trade, exchange; barter.
Truck
(intransitive) To engage in commerce; to barter or deal.
Truck
(intransitive) To have dealings or social relationships with; to engage with.
Truck
A small wheel, as of a vehicle; specifically (Ord.), a small strong wheel, as of wood or iron, for a gun carriage.
Truck
A low, wheeled vehicle or barrow for carrying goods, stone, and other heavy articles.
Goods were conveyed about the town almost exclusively in trucks drawn by dogs.
Truck
A swiveling carriage, consisting of a frame with one or more pairs of wheels and the necessary boxes, springs, etc., to carry and guide one end of a locomotive or a car; - sometimes called bogie in England. Trucks usually have four or six wheels.
Truck
A small wooden cap at the summit of a flagstaff or a masthead, having holes in it for reeving halyards through.
Truck
A freight car.
Truck
A frame on low wheels or rollers; - used for various purposes, as for a movable support for heavy bodies.
Truck
A motorized vehicle larger than an automobile with a compartment in front for the driver, behind which is a separate compartment for freight;
Truck
Exchange of commodities; barter.
Truck
Commodities appropriate for barter, or for small trade; small commodities; esp., in the United States, garden vegetables raised for the market.
Truck
The practice of paying wages in goods instead of money; - called also truck system.
Truck
To transport on a truck or trucks.
Truck
To exchange; to give in exchange; to barter; as, to truck knives for gold dust.
We will begin by supposing the international trade to be in form, what it always is in reality, an actual trucking of one commodity against another.
Truck
To exchange commodities; to barter; to trade; to deal.
A master of a ship, who deceived them under color of trucking with them.
Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster.
To truck and higgle for a private good.
Truck
An automotive vehicle suitable for hauling
Truck
A handcart that has a frame with two low wheels and a ledge at the bottom and handles at the top; used to move crates or other heavy objects
Truck
Convey (goods etc.) by truck;
Truck fresh vegetables across the mountains
Truck
An American term for a vehicle designed to carry cargo.
The truck was filled with produce.
Truck
A vehicle generally used for business and industrial transportation.
The truck was used to haul lumber.
Common Curiosities
What is a Truck?
A Truck is the American equivalent, also designed for transporting cargo.
How do Lorry and Truck differ?
"Lorry" is used in the UK and "Truck" in the U.S., but they are generally interchangeable.
Can Lorry be pluralized?
Yes, the plural form is "Lorries."
Is Lorry used in literature?
Yes, especially in British literature and news articles.
Is Lorry a British term?
Yes, "Lorry" is predominantly used in British English.
Can Truck be pluralized?
Yes, the plural form is "Trucks."
Do Lorries and Trucks come in various sizes?
Yes, both come in different sizes and configurations.
What is a pickup Truck?
It's a small truck with an open back for carrying goods.
What is a Lorry?
A Lorry is primarily a UK term for a large vehicle designed to carry goods.
Is Truck an American term?
Yes, "Truck" is commonly used in American English.
Is Truck used globally?
Yes, "Truck" is more universally recognized than "Lorry."
Is Lorry used in Commonwealth countries?
Yes, it is commonly used in the UK and other Commonwealth nations.
Is Truck used in literature?
Yes, particularly in American literature and media.
What is an articulated Lorry?
It's a lorry with a pivoting joint allowing it to turn more easily.
Do both Lorry and Truck serve the same purpose?
Generally, yes, both are designed for transporting goods.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
