luggage

luggage — noun

1. all the bags, suitcases, and other containers you carry your clothes and persona

1.nounA2
Definition

all the bags, suitcases, and other containers you carry your clothes and personal belongings in when you go on a trip, together with whatever is inside them

Example

Mizuki packed her luggage the night before her flight to Seoul.

collocation: pack luggage

Make sure your luggage has a name tag before checking it in at the counter.

collocation: check luggage in

Common collocations
  • pack luggage
  • carry luggage
  • check luggage
  • collect luggage
  • heavy luggage
  • hand luggage
  • carry-on luggage
  • lost luggage
  • a piece of luggage
  • an item of luggage
Synonyms
  • baggage

    more common in American English and at airports; also used metaphorically (emotional baggage), which luggage is not

  • bags

    informal and less precise — can refer to any type of bag, not just travel containers

  • suitcases

    narrower — refers specifically to rectangular cases with handles, not all luggage types

Usage Note

Luggage is an uncountable noun, so it cannot be pluralised. For countable references use a piece of / an item of luggage or simply bag / suitcase.

Common Mistakes

I have three luggages to carry.
I have three pieces of luggage to carry.
luggage is uncountable and does not take a plural -s.

Word family

  • lug
    verbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Luggage and baggage both describe containers used for travel, but baggage is more common in American airport contexts (baggage claim, baggage allowance) and also carries a figurative meaning (emotional baggage) that luggage does not. Bags is the most general term — it covers everything from shopping bags to backpacks to travel cases — while suitcases narrows the meaning to hard- or soft-sided cases with a handle, excluding backpacks, duffels, and totes. In everyday British English, luggage is the default word for everything a traveller carries; in American English baggage is equally frequent for the same meaning.

baggagebagssuitcases

Common collocations

Phrases

  • a piece of luggage
  • an item of luggage
  • excess luggage
  • hand luggage only

Etymology

EnglishMiddle EnglishOld Norse

Luggage comes from the verb lug, meaning 'to pull or carry with effort', combined with the suffix -age (forming a noun for a collection of items). It was first used in the late 1500s to mean 'things that are lugged around'. The modern meaning of travellers' bags and suitcases became common in the 1800s as rail travel grew.