Passengers

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpæsənd͡ʒɚz/

Definitions

1. People who are traveling in a vehicle but are not operating it
2. Individuals carried in a mode of transport who do not control its movement
3. Persons onboard transportation serving as riders rather than drivers or crew

Etymology: "Passengers" is simply the plural of "passenger", so it shares that noun's history. The singular came into English from Old French "passagier", a traveller or someone who passes through, built on "passage" (a journey or crossing). The "n" in "passenger" is an intrusive consonant, the same kind of addition seen in "messenger", which likewise slipped in between sound and spelling over time. The plural form itself follows the ordinary English pattern of adding "-s" to a countable noun, so a group of people carried by a bus, train or ship is simply a set of individual travellers. The core idea has stayed constant: someone moving from one place to another, with the vehicle doing the work.

Synonyms: travelers, commuters