A tanker is a ship, truck, train wagon, or aircraft built for one job: carrying a huge amount of liquid or gas inside a big sealed container. The most famous kind is the oil tanker — a ship so large it can take twenty minutes to stop.

A tanker is a ship, truck, train wagon, or aircraft built for one jobTanker 是專門為了一項工作打造的船、卡車、火車車廂或飛機: carrying a huge amount of liquid or gas inside a big sealed container在一個密封的大容器裡載運大量的液體或氣體。The most famous kind is the oil tanker最有名的一種是 oil tanker（油輪）— a ship so large it can take twenty minutes to stop一艘大到要花二十分鐘才能停下來的船。

But the word covers much more than oil: a milk tanker collects milk from farms, a water tanker brings drinking water to a town after an earthquake, a gas tanker carries cooking gas. If you say just "tanker" with no other word, most people picture the giant oil ship at sea. On land, people more often say "tanker truck" or "tank truck" (British English often says "tanker lorry"), because "tanker" alone sounds like a ship to many ears.

But the word covers much more than oil但這個詞涵蓋的範圍比油多得多: a milk tanker collects milk from farmsMilk tanker（牛奶槽車）會去農場收牛奶, a water tanker brings drinking water to a town after an earthquakeWater tanker（水車）會在地震後把飲用水送進城鎮, a gas tanker carries cooking gasGas tanker（瓦斯槽車）載運瓦斯。If you say just "tanker" with no other word如果你只說「tanker」，不加別的字, most people picture the giant oil ship at sea大部分人腦中浮現的是海上那艘巨大的油輪。On land, people more often say "tanker truck" or "tank truck"在陸地上，大家比較常說 tanker truck 或 tank truck (British English often says "tanker lorry")（英式英文常說 tanker lorry）, because "tanker" alone sounds like a ship to many ears因為對很多人來說，單獨的 tanker 聽起來就是船。

There is also an air force meaning: a tanker (or tanker plane) is a plane that carries fuel and passes it to other planes in the sky.

There is also an air force meaning還有一個空軍的意思: a tanker (or tanker plane) is a plane that carries fuelTanker（或 tanker plane）是一種載燃料的飛機, and passes it to other planes in the sky在空中把燃料補給給其他飛機。

A useful thing to notice — the vehicle is a tanker, but the container itself is a tank. The tanker is the whole thing that moves; the tank is the box that holds the liquid.

A useful thing to notice有個值得注意的地方 — the vehicle is a tanker, but the container itself is a tank這輛交通工具叫 tanker，但容器本身叫 tank。The tanker is the whole thing that movesTanker 是會移動的整體; the tank is the box that holds the liquidTank 是裝液體的那個箱子。

In news reports you meet the word most in stories about oil prices, wars near shipping routes, and oil spills, so it often arrives with a serious, sometimes worrying feeling around it. There is a rarer verb use in the oil trade — to tanker something is to move it by tanker — but a student will almost never need it.

In news reports you meet the word most in stories about oil prices, wars near shipping routes, and oil spills在新聞報導裡，你最常在講油價、航線附近戰爭、漏油事件的報導中看到這個詞, so it often arrives with a serious, sometimes worrying feeling around it所以它周圍常常帶著一種嚴肅、有時令人擔心的氣氛。There is a rarer verb use in the oil trade石油業裡還有一個比較少見的動詞用法 — to tanker something is to move it by tankerTo tanker something 是指用 tanker 運送它 — but a student will almost never need it但學生幾乎用不到這個用法。