Word.ws English Dictionary

12-9

12-9 noun: an instance of a collision between a person and a subway train, such as a fall into the tracks; used by train conductors in the New York City Subway.

Noun

12-9 (plural 12-9s)

  1. (New-York-City, euphemistic) An instance of a collision between a person and a subway train, such as a fall into the tracks; used by train conductors in the New York City Subway.
    • Whatever the reason, he found it easy to keep his emotions in check the first couple of times that he had a 12-9. Twelve-nine, in transit lingo, is a radio alert that someone has landed under a subway train.2000 June 13, Clyde Haberman, “NYC; The Numbers Motormen Dread: 12-9”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015
    • […] In the parlance of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 12-9s describe collisions between trains and people. […] In 2019, the M.T.A. recorded a hundred and ninety-five 12-9s, the highest number in at least a decade. About a third are fatal.2020 September 23, Daniel A. Gross, “New York’s Train Operators Face Life After a Collision, in “After the 12-9””, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived...

Forms of 12-9

plural12-9s
alternative formtwelve-nine

Origin of 12-9

Originally a radio call sign used by conductors.

Questions about 12-9

What does 12-9 mean?
12-9 means an instance of a collision between a person and a subway train, such as a fall into the tracks; used by train conductors in the New York City Subway.
What part of speech is 12-9?
12-9 is a noun.
What is the plural of 12-9?
The plural of 12-9 is 12-9s.

Words near 12-9 in the dictionary

  1. 11ᵗʰ
  2. 12
  3. 12 Day War
  4. 12 MN
  5. 12 NN
  6. 12-9
  7. 12-9s
  8. 12-crown-4
  9. 12-foot
  10. 12-foots
  11. 12-gon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 12-9 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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