motrices

Motrices is a term found in Romance-language technical vocabularies, where motrice (singular) and motrices (plural) refer to a driving unit or propulsion device. In railway usage, particularly in French and Italian contexts, motrice is used to denote the traction unit of a train or a powered vehicle, and motrices is the plural form when discussing multiple such units. In English-language railway literature the term is rarely used; locomotive or traction unit is generally preferred.

Etymology and scope: Motrice derives from a root meaning to move, with Romance-language agent-noun suffixes that produce a word for an object that performs movement. The sense of a device that moves or propels underpins its distribution across transport and machinery vocabulary. While most English readers will not encounter motrice/motrice outside translations or technical loanwords, the concept corresponds to a motorized drive component or locomotive.

Usage in modern contexts: In railway and industrial documentation, motrice can denote a motorized subassembly within a machine, a drive module, or a propulsion car in rail configurations where some units provide traction and others do not. The plural motrices would then refer to several such powered units. In translation work, motrice and motrices are typically rendered as locomotive, traction unit, or drive motor depending on the exact technical meaning and the audience.

See also: Locomotive, Traction unit, Drive system, Actuator, Motor.