Ute

How do people say it?

• He loaded the timber onto the ute.Listen
• Dad bought a second-hand ute for work.Listen

What should I know?

Who can say it

Safe with anyone. It is the normal word, in shops and on the radio.

Where you hear it

Australia

Elsewhere you might say

UK: pickup. US: pickup truck.

A ute has a cabin for the driver and passengers and an open tray behind for loads. Most are built on a car-sized body, lower and lighter than the biggest trucks.

People carry building supplies, garden waste, a dog or a surfboard in the back. A ute is not a van, which has a closed back, and it is not a lorry or a big freight truck.

The word is neutral, so you can use it with anyone. Tradies, farmers and families own utes, and sellers put the word in the title of an advert.

If you ask a mechanic or a dealer about a ute, you will be understood at once. The only care needed is spelling: ute has no apostrophe, and the plural is utes.

In the country: chuck the ladder on the ute and we'll go. At a hardware shop: can I bring the ute round the back for the timber?

In a job advert: driver's licence and own ute an advantage. Each sentence shows how the word names the vehicle and the work it does, and the tone is plain and practical.

In the United States the closest everyday word is pickup truck, and in Britain it is pickup.

Neither is exactly a ute, because American pickups are usually larger and a ute is often built from a car. Tradies and farmers use the word all the time. You will also see it in used-vehicle adverts and local news, so it is worth learning early.

What else can I say?

• Arvo Afternoon.
• Stoked Very pleased and excited about something.

More examples

• In the country: She drove the ute to the farm gate.Listen