The Tardis

A TARDIS — sometimes styled Tardis, but also called a TT Capsule or just a timeship — was the primary space-time vehicle used by the Time Lords of Gallifrey allowing them to travel throughout the universe.

Name edit

Susan claimed to have invented the acronym "TARDIS" from the phrase "Time And Relative Dimension In Space", (TV: An Unearthly Child) either on her first trip inside such a ship (AUDIO: The Beginning) or while she lived on 1963 Earth. (PROSE: Time and Relative) However, the First Doctor expressed familiarity with the term when Susan first said the word "TARDIS" aloud, (AUDIO: The Beginning) and one source suggests that the term TARDIS already existed on Gallifrey prior to the Doctor's departure. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) River Song remarked that Susan's name for the space-time vessels really "caught on". (AUDIO: An Unearthly Woman)

"TT capsule" was an early name for the TARDIS, used during the Racnoss Wars. (AUDIO: Empire of the Racnoss) Many years later, some Time Lords like Castellan Spandrell preferred that more generic term when describing TARDISes, (TV: The Deadly Assassin) with Romana I using the shorter term "capsule". (TV: The Pirate Planet) Others, like the War Chief, (TV: The War Games) Commander Maxil, Damon, Lord President Borusa, (TV: Arc of Infinity) and Fabian, (TV: The Name of the Doctor) were perfectly familiar with the "TARDIS" acronym.

As Bill Potts pointed out to the Twelfth Doctor, though, the acronym would likely only work in English. (TV: The Pilot)

Some beings on the fringes of Time Lord society, like the Sisterhood of Karn, also knew the acronym without being prompted by the Doctor or their companions. (TV: The Brain of Morbius)

Susan defined the acronym with both the singular dimension (TV: "An Unearthly Child") and the plural dimensions. (AUDIO: The Beginning)

Vicki used the plural "dimensions" when explaining the term to Steven. (TV: "The Watcher")

This interpretation held for a time, being used by Zoe Heriot, (TV: The War Games) K9 Mark II, (TV: The Creature from the Pit) and Adric. (TV: Four to Doomsday)

Nevertheless, the singular Dimension, was preferred by the Doctor's fifth, (TV: Frontios) eighth, (TV: Doctor Who) ninth, (TV: Rose) tenth (TV: Smith and Jones) "Ruth", (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon) and twelfth incarnations, (TV: The Pilot) as well as the Doctor's TARDIS itself, when its matrix was transplanted into Idris, (TV: The Doctor's Wife) and Rose Tyler. (TV: Turn Left) The Seventh Doctor, however, used the plural "dimensions" to describe the TARDIS. (TV: Delta and the Bannermen)

The "dedication plaque" in the Doctor's TARDIS also referred to the ship as "Time and Relative Dimension in Space", favouring the singular form. (TV: Amy's Choice)

The Twelfth Doctor once claimed to Osgood that he made up the term TARDIS from the initials, "Totally and Radically Driving in Space". Osgood also mentioned that she had heard "a couple of different versions" of what TARDIS stood for. (TV: The Zygon Inversion)

During the War in Heaven, increased materialism on the Homeworld led to the word "timeship" being a more common name for the capsules. (PROSE: The Book of the War)