A Day In The Life Of A New York Tour Guide

What does “subway” mean in American English?

In American English, a subway is a train that runs under the ground in a city. In New York, people take the subway every day to get to work. A New Yorker says, “He goes there by subway.” But be careful in Britain: there, a “subway” is a small tunnel you walk through to cross under a road. The same word means two different things.

In London, people do not say “subway” for the train. They say “the Underground” or “the Tube.” So an American takes the subway, and a Londoner takes the Tube. They both mean the same kind of train under the city, but they use different words.