For the storage space at the back of a car, <strong>boot</strong> is the British word and <strong>trunk</strong> is the American one — <em>put the shopping in the boot</em> and <em>put the groceries in the trunk</em> describe exactly the same act. Outside cars the words part company entirely: a boot is footwear, a trunk is a tree's main stem, an elephant's nose or a large travelling case.
The core difference
This is a vocabulary split, not a meaning one. British, Irish, Australian, New Zealand and South African English say boot. American and Canadian English say trunk. Both refer to the enclosed luggage compartment, usually at the rear.
It comes as part of a set. If you say boot, you also say bonnet, windscreen, wing mirror and tyre. If you say trunk, you say hood, windshield, side mirror and tire. Mixing them mid-paragraph is the giveaway.
The test
Ask what you call the panel at the front. If it is a bonnet, the one at the back is a boot. If it is a hood, the one at the back is a trunk. Choose by audience and keep the whole set consistent.
Everything else boot means
- Footwear: walking boots, wellington boots, a pair of ankle boots.
- Starting a computer: the laptop takes a minute to boot up.
- Kicking someone out, informally: he got the boot after two warnings.
- British car-boot sale: selling second-hand goods from your car in a field on a Sunday — a phrase with no American equivalent.
Everything else trunk means
- The main stem of a tree: lightning split the trunk.
- An elephant's nose: it curled its trunk round the branch.
- A large rigid travelling case: an old steamer trunk in the attic.
- The human torso, in anatomy: strengthening the muscles of the trunk.
- A main line in a network: a trunk road, a trunk call.
The point of overlap worth knowing
American English also has trunks in the plural for swimming shorts, which has nothing to do with cars or trees. And electric cars have introduced the frunk — a front trunk in the space where the engine used to be. British motoring writers have not settled on an equivalent, so frunk turns up in UK coverage too, sitting oddly beside boot.
Which should you write?
Match your reader. For a British audience, boot and anything else will read as an Americanism. For an American audience, boot in a car context may genuinely confuse — many readers will picture footwear before the compartment. If you are writing for both, the luggage compartment or the back of the car sidesteps the problem entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Americans understand the word boot for a car?
Some do, from British television, but many will picture footwear first. In American writing, use trunk — or say "the back of the car" if you want to be understood everywhere.
What is the British word for hood?
Bonnet. The full set is bonnet/hood at the front, boot/trunk at the back, windscreen/windshield, tyre/tire. Keep them consistent within one piece of writing.
What is a frunk?
A front trunk — the storage space under the bonnet of an electric car, where a petrol engine would normally sit. The word came from American motoring coverage and is now used fairly widely.