Tesla

Borrowed from Serbo-Croatian Tesla / Тесла, from Proto-Slavic *tesla. Cognate with German Dechsel, Dutch dissel, Russian тесло́ (tesló), Polish ciosła, Latin tēla. Doublet of tela and toile. The name of the automotive company is a tribute to Nikola Tesla.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛslə/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛslə/, /ˈtɛzlə/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɛslə, -ɛzlə

Tesla (plural Teslas)

2. A surname from Serbo-Croatian.
4. Inventor and physicist Nikola Tesla (1856–1943).
6. An automotive corporation named in honor of the inventor; its brand.

Tesla (plural Teslas)

2. (automotive) A car manufactured by Tesla, Inc., a battery electric vehicle (BEV) automaker founded in 2003.
   • 2017, David Joland, chapter 16, in The Biggest Idea in the World, CreateSpace, →ISBN, page 87:

     If they happen to have shares worth a couple of hundred million each, that’s a bonus, but other than their Teslas and Playstations,^[sic] they can think of nothing they need to spend it on, although if the auto-pilot self-driving software isn’t released soon they’ll have to actually learn to drive rather than just leaving the cars plugged in all day.

   • 2017, Lisen Stromberg, “Money Matters, Plan Accordingly”, in Work PAUSE Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career, Dallas, Tex.: BenBella Books, Inc., →ISBN, part III (Your Career, Your Way), page 251:

     We live in Silicon Valley, home of the gazillionaires you read about with their Teslas and private jets.

   • 2021 June 1, Chris Isidore, “Elon Musk blames rising Tesla prices on raw material costs”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Add Teslas to the list of items that are costing more money during the pandemic.

   • 2021 November 18, Matt McFarland, “We tried Tesla’s ‘full self-driving.’ Here’s what happened”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     I felt deja vu as I recalled a video in which a Tesla owner slammed on the brakes after his car appeared set on crashing headlong into a construction site.

   • 2024, Jessica Hurlbut, “The Pinch of Finances: Jesus, Cut the Ties Money Has on My Heart”, in Unlimited Motherhood: Overcome 12 Limits That Overwhelm and Conflict Our Hearts, Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, →ISBN, “The Man Dressed in Black”:

     But we think the wealthy are living in Silicon Valley with their Teslas, at-home espresso machines, and live-in nannies.

• setal, steal, ETLAs, telas, Astle, tales, least, salet, slate, Teals, stela, Slate, Sleat, lates, leats, 'least, laste, teals, stale, taels

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Tesla n (strong, genitive Teslas, plural Tesla)

1. tesla

• “Tesla” in Duden online

From tesla, definite form of teslă.

Tesla f

1. a river in Brașov, Romania, tributary to the Tărlung

From Serbo-Croatian tȅsla (“adze”), from Proto-Slavic *tesla.

• IPA^(key): /têsla/

Tȅsla m anim (Cyrillic spelling Те̏сла)

1. a surname, Tesla

• T (tesla, an SI unit)
• tesla (T, an SI unit)