What is "conex" exactly? Is "conexis" its plural form?

Discussion in 'English Only' started by blueblooded, Apr 3, 2013.

  1. blueblooded Junior Member


    I searched form the word "conex" in google but I couldn't realize what is it exactly? I also couldn't find any image for it in Google Image Search.
    Is it possible that you put some pictures of "conex" here?
    Can it be house?
  2. waltern Senior Member

    English - USA
    What is the context? - where did you come across this word?
  3. blueblooded Junior Member

    It's a Persian text and I want to translate it into English. It is talking about the electricity needed for "Conexis" which are far from electrical grid, can be produced by solar energy. In Persian we call it "kaneks". And I wrote "conex" in Google by chance and I saw there is really the word "conex" in English. But I don't know if it means something else? or it is the conex which I'm looking for.

    << Response to deleted post. >>
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 3, 2013
  4. Cagey post mod

    English - US
    I suggest that you find an image of the Persian kaneks and post a link to it.
    Then people can see whether they recognize it and can give you the English word for it.
  5. blueblooded Junior Member

  6. Cagey post mod

    English - US
    Thank you. I think of three possibilities:

    Are they moved from place to place? In that case, I would call them 'portable houses', or just plain 'portables'.

    If they are made somewhere else and then set in place, they can be called 'prefabricated buildings' or 'prefabs'.

    I would call the ones on wheels 'trailers', if the wheels are a permanent part of the building.

    If you can tell us which one of these are closest to what you are thinking of, other people may suggest different terms for any one of these.
  7. blueblooded Junior Member

    Isn't there a general word for all of them?
    If there isn't, then I mostly mean numbers 2 and 3, which I have bolded.
  8. suzi br

    suzi br Senior Member

    Stoke on Trent
    England and English
    I cannot tell which ones you bolded (sic) but some of them look like kiosks which is approaching the sound your thread
    started with!
  9. Andygc

    Andygc Senior Member

    British English
    In BE the portable buildings without wheels are known as Portakabins - this is, in fact, a commercial name and is misused in BE in the same was as are Hoover and Biro - so they should be called portable buildings. A prefab is an entirely different thing, built to replace bombed houses at the end of the Second World War. We have prefabricated buildings, but these come in sub-assemblies to make a building bigger than will fit on one road vehicle.

    Adding wheels makes thinking of a generic name difficult. Because of the complexities of our planning laws we have mobile homes which have small wheels which are, in reality, almost useless when it comes to moving them. I don't think that we have one word to fit them all like trailer in AE
  10. Doktor Zlo Junior Member

    Saskatoon, Canada
    English (Canadian)

    "The logistics method employing [intermodal containers] was named Container Express and was abbreviated ConEx."

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_container

    It's not a conex; it's a conex box. The plural is conex boxes.
  11. Cagey post mod

    English - US
    The buildings linked to in post #5 may be called 'conexes' because in some way they resemble ConEx containers, or because they are a building style that began with buildings constructed from containers, however they certainly are not boxes.

    It is possible to find images of conex houses, but there is nothing like the range of styles shown in the link blueblooded provided.

    'Conex' is not widely known or used, as far as I can tell. However, if the proper word is 'conex', I would use 'conexes' as the plural, as I did above.
  12. Myridon

    Myridon Senior Member

    English - US
    Google Translate translates the word used in the Google Images link above as "shelter" so I doubt that it is actually related to "Container Express." That would be quite a coincidence. :)
  13. blueblooded Junior Member

    Thanks everyone.

    I think "conex house" can be a good solution as Cagey said.
  14. Andygc

    Andygc Senior Member

    British English
    Not if your readers speak BE - they won't have the faintest idea of what you mean.
  15. Jim2996 Senior Member

    Boston, MA
    American English
    From your pictures I would call all these temporary buildings.

    The "temporary" means that they aren't designed to be in one place forever or to last forever. This temporary could be years, sometimes it turns into decades. At times, it seems to be an ironic/euphemistic for low cost, cheap.
  16. JustKate

    JustKate Moderate Mod

    I (an AmE speaker) wouldn't have the faintest idea what "conex house" means either. The word conex conveys nothing to me at all. I would call most of those structures shown in the images "temporary buildings." A few of them I'd call "trailers" or "mobile homes," and a few - the ones that look a bit like a barn or storage building - I'd call "mini-barns."
  17. waltern Senior Member

    English - USA
    I agree that few English speakers would understand what a "conex house" is - and also think it would only accurately refer to houses actually built from shipping containers, which do exist but must be much rarer then typical mobile/trailer homes and other forms of portable buildings, sheds, etc.
  18. blueblooded Junior Member

    Thanks a lot

    "Temporary building" is perfect for my translation. It completely conveys the meaning.

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