Intermodal

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to the use or connection of multiple types of transportation or communication methods in a single system
2. Describes a process or system that integrates various transport or communication modes to work together efficiently
3. Pertaining to combining different ways of moving goods or information within one coordinated framework

Etymology: "Intermodal" is a plain technical compound, built from the Latin prefix "inter-", meaning "between" or "among," and the English adjective "modal." The prefix carries the sense of linking separate things: it passed into English through Latin as a building block in many words for relationships between parts, such as "international" and "interstate." "Modal" itself descends from the Latin "modus," meaning "measure" or "manner," and in English it has long described forms, manners, or ways of doing something. In "intermodal," the two parts combine to mean something happening between different modes, where a "mode" is a particular method or type of transport. A shipment that moves from a truck to a train to a ship, for example, is intermodal.

Synonyms: multimodal