According to the dictionary of Google… there’s not much difference between a convertible and a cabriolet. A convertible is "a car with a folding or detachable roof". A cabriolet means a "car with a roof that folds down". Then there are roadsters, which are two-seater convertibles and are also sometimes called spiders – or spyders. Sounds confusing but essentially they all mean the same thing – a car that can drop its roof. Interestingly, originally a cabriolet was a type of horse drawn carriage. It was a two-wheeled carriage with a soft hood and was pulled by a single horse. Cabriolet is from the French word cabriole which means 'goats leap', so called from the motion of the carriage.