barge
n. countablen. a long, flat-bottomed boat used for carrying heavy loads on rivers and canals. It usually needs a tugboat to pull it.
n. a large, flat-bottomed vessel designed for transporting heavy cargo on inland waterways, typically propelled by a tug.
The barge carries coal down the river.
A tugboat pushed the heavy barge through the narrow canal lock.
The industrial barge, laden with raw materials, drifted slowly against the current while waiting for the tide to turn.
From Middle English barge, borrowed from Old French barge (“boat”), from Vulgar Latin barga, a variant of Late Latin barca, a regular syncope of Vulgar Latin barica, from Classical Latin bāris, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris, “Egyptian boat”), from Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare, “small boat”), from Demotic Egyptian br, from Egyptian bꜣjrb-bA-A-y:r*Z1-P1 (“transport ship”). Doublet of bark, barque and baris.