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Jitneys weren't worth a dime—just a nickel. In the early 1900s, jitney was slang for "nickel," but it wasn't long before the term was applied to a new mode of public transportation that only cost a nickel. When they were introduced in American cities at the beginning of the century, vehicular jitneys could be any automobiles that carried passengers over a set route for a cheap fare, but eventually the term was applied specifically to small buses—and, nowadays, to the motor shuttles used by airlines and hotels). In the mid-1900s, the word jitney was combined with jeep to create a new coinage: jeepney, meaning "a Philippine jitney bus converted from a jeep."
Examples of jitney in a Sentence
Jay R. Jordan,
Chron,
17 May 2022
Simon Berry started a jitney service that catered to Greenwood's Black community, who were barred from using White taxi services.
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Jazmin Goodwin,
CNN,
16 May 2021
The seed for Lyft was planted when Logan Green, a California university student, saw jitney buses picking up passengers in Zimbabwe.
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Daniel Yergin,
WSJ,
23 Apr. 2021
There is a motif of animals transported on vehicles, such as a placid duck riding in the back of a jitney and a nervous sheep in a cage being hauled by a tractor.
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Peter Keough,
BostonGlobe.com,
5 July 2018
Cite this Entry
“Jitney.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jitney. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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jitney
noun
