A truck (lorry in British English) is a motor vehicle for transporting goods. The word "truck" comes from the Greek "trochos", meaning "wheel". In America, the big wheels of wagons were called trucks. When the petrol engine driven trucks came into fashion, these were called "motortrucks" and the word motor in front of truck disappeared.

Unlike automobiles, which usually have a unibody construction, most trucks (with the exception of the car-like minivan) are built around a strong frame called a chassis. They come in all sizes, from the automobile-sized pickup truck to towering off-road mining trucks or heavy highway semi-trailers.

The term "truck" is most commonly used in American English and Australian English to refer to what earlier was called a motor truck, while the equivalent term in British English is lorry (although the official term is Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV)). The British term is, however, only used for the medium and heavy types (see below), i.e. a van, a pickup or a SUV would never be regarded a "lorry" . Other languages have loanwords based on these terms, such as the Malay lori.

In Australia and New Zealand a small vehicle with an open back is called a ute (short for "utility vehicle") and the word "truck" is reserved for larger vehicles.