backpack

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

backpack

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

back pack

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.?

Proto-Germanic *baką

Proto-West Germanic *bak

Old English bæc

Middle English bak

English back

English pack

English backpack

From back + pack.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈbæk.pæk/
- Audio (UK): (file)

Noun

backpack (plural backpacks)

A knapsack, sometimes mounted on a light frame, but always supported by straps, worn on a person’s back for the purpose of carrying things, especially when hiking, or on a student's back when carrying books.
- 2011, Thelma J. Miller, What's in Your Backpack?, page 8:
  Rachel discovered that she could also keep things in her backpack that were important to her, nobody would know about them because they would be hidden. These important things included a small round rock that she had found […]
- 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 77:
  Many seats carry reservation labels, while the luggage racks are festooned with backpacks and suitcases.
A similarly placed item containing a parachute or other life support equipment.

Synonyms

book bag, bookbag
booksack (Acadiana)
haversack
knapsack (chiefly US)
packsack (chiefly US)
rucksack (UK, Northeastern US)

Hyponyms

creel (shoulder-slung types)

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Japanese: バックパック (bakkupakku)
→ Korean: 백팩 (baekpaek)

Translations

worn on a person's back, e.g., for hiking

Afrikaans: rugsak
Albanian: çantë (sq), marr në sup
Arabic: حَقِيبَة ظَهْر f (ḥaqībat ẓahr)
Armenian: ուղեպարկ (hy) (uġepark), ուսապարկ (hy) (usapark)
Asturian: mochila f
Azerbaijani: arxa çantası, bel çantası
Basque: bizkar-zorro, motxila
Belarusian: рукза́к m (rukzák), ра́нец m (ránjec), запле́чнік m (zapljéčnik)
Bengali: ব্যাকপ্যাক (bêkoppak)
Bulgarian: ра́ница f (ránica)
Burmese: ကျောပိုးအိတ် (my) (kyau:pui:it)
Catalan: motxilla (ca) f, bossa d'esquena f
Chechen: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Cantonese: 背囊 (yue) (bui³ nong⁴)

Dungan: быйбо (bɨybo)

Hokkien: 被包 (phōe-pau / phē-pau)

Mandarin: 背包 (zh) (bēibāo), 背囊 (zh) (bēináng)

Wu: 背包 (⁵pe-pau)
Czech: batoh (cs) m, ruksak (cs) m
Danish: rygsæk (da) c
Dutch: rugzak (nl) m
Elfdalian: bög m
Erzya: лавтовкескал (lavtovkeskal)
Esperanto: dorsosako, tornistro (eo)
Estonian: seljakott, ranits
Faroese: ryggsekkur m
Finnish: reppu (fi), selkäreppu (fi), rinkka (fi)
French: sac à dos (fr) m, cabas (fr) m (Louisiana)
Frisian:
West Frisian: rêchsek c
Friulian: persac
Galician: mochila f
Georgian: ზურგჩანთა (zurgčanta)
German: Rucksack (de) m
Greek: σακίδιο (el) n (sakídio)
Ancient Greek: γυλιός m (guliós)
Greenlandic: nammattagaq
Gujarati: દફતર (gu) n (daphtar)
Hawaiian: pāiki hāʻawe
Hebrew: יַלְקוּט (he) m (yalkút), תַּרְמִיל (he) m (tarmíl), תִּיק גַּב (he) m (tik gav)
Hindi: बैकपैक m (baikpaik)
Hungarian: hátizsák (hu)
Icelandic: bakpoki (is) m
Ido: dorsosako (io)
Indonesian: ransel (id), tas punggung (id)
Ingrian: rantsa
Irish: mála droma m
Italian: zaino (it) m
Japanese: リュック (ja) (ryukku), リュックサック (ja) (ryukkusakku), バックパック (ja) (bakkupakku)
Kazakh: рюкзак (rükzak), жолдорба (joldorba), арқақап (arqaqap)
Khmer: សាកាដូ (saakaadou)
Korean: 배낭(背囊) (ko) (baenang), 륙색 (ryuksaek), 백팩 (baekpaek)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: جانتای پشت (cantay pişt)
Kyrgyz: рюкзак (ryukzak), жонбаштык (jonbaştık)
Lao: ບາໂລ (bā lō), ຖົງເປ້ (thong pē)
Latin: sacculus n, sacciperium dorsale n
Latvian: mugursoma f
Lithuanian: kuprinė f
Luxembourgish: Rucksak m
Macedonian: ра́нец m (ránec)
Malay: ransel, beg galas
Māori: pīkaunga
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: үүргэвч (mn) (üürgevč)
Navajo: azis bee naʼaljidí
Norwegian:
Bokmål: ryggsekk m
Occitan: sac d'esquina m
Ossetian: рюкзак (rjukzak)
Persian:
Iranian Persian: کیفِ کولِه (kif-e kule)
Polish: plecak (pl) m
Portuguese: mochila (pt) f, sacudu m
Romanian: rucsac (ro) n
Romansh: satgados m, bulscha f
Russian: рюкза́к (ru) m (rjukzák), ра́нец (ru) m (ránec)
Sami:
Northern Sami: lávka
Sardinian: mocilla f
Scottish Gaelic: màla-droma f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ра́нац m, ру̏кса̄к m, на̀пртњача f (Croatia)

Latin: ránac (sh) m, rȕksāk (sh) m, nàprtnjača (sh) f (Croatia)
Slovak: batoh (sk) m, ruksak m
Slovene: nahrbtnik (sl) m
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: nachribjetnik m
Spanish: mochila (es) f, ^{(please verify)} bolsón (es) m (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras), ^{(please verify)} morral (es) m (Colombia, Venezuela), salveque m (Costa Rica), bulto (es) m (Costa Rica), bolso (es) m (Costa Rica), macuto (es) m
Swedish: ryggsäck (sv) c
Tagalog: kabalyas, bag
Tajik: борхалта (borxalta)
Tatar: рюкзак (ryuqzaq), биштәр (tt) (biştär), арка капчыгы (arqa qapçığı)
Thai: เป้ (th) (bpêe), กระเป๋า เป้สะพาย หลัง (grà-bpǎo bpêe sà-paai lǎng)
Tibetan: རྒྱབ་ཕད (rgyab phad)
Turkish: sırt çantası (tr)
Turkmen: rýukzak
Ukrainian: рюкза́к m (rjukzák), наплі́чник m (naplíčnyk), ра́нець m (ránecʹ), заплі́чник m (zaplíčnyk)
Urdu: بَیک پَیک m (baik paik)
Uzbek: ryukzak (uz)
Venetan: zaineto m
Vietnamese: ba lô (vi)
Welsh: sach gefn f
Yiddish: רוקזאַק m (rukzak)

containing parachute

Finnish: reppu (fi)
German: ^{(please verify)} Fallschirmcontainer m

Verb

backpack (third-person singular simple present backpacks, present participle backpacking, simple past and past participle backpacked)

(intransitive) To hike and camp overnight in backcountry with one's gear carried in a backpack.
I spent a month backpacking in the Rockies.
(intransitive) To engage in low-cost, generally urban, travel with minimal luggage and frugal accommodation.
(transitive, rare) To place or carry (an item or items) in a backpack.
Astronauts backpack oxygen during spacewalks.
- 2020, Akara September 2020 Magazine, page 103:
  I planned to go to jungle today and backpacked my things which contained^[sic] food and a note book.

Derived terms

Translations

to hike and camp overnight in backcountry with one's gear carried in a backpack

to place or carry (an item or items) in a backpack

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: ^{(please verify)} backpacken (nl)