Etymology
From Middle English whel, from Old English hwÄ“ol, from Proto-West Germanic *hwehwl, from Proto-Germanic *hwehwlÄ…, *hweulÅ, from Proto-Indo-European *kÊ·ekÊ·lóm, *kʷékÊ·los, *kʷékÊ·léhâ‚‚, reduplication of *kÊ·el- (to turn) and a suffix (literally "the thing that turns and turns"). Similar to West Frisian tsjil, Dutch wiel, Danish hjul, Tocharian B kokale (cart, wagon), Ancient Greek κÏκλος or kúklos (cycle, wheel), Avestan caxra, Sanskrit चकà¥à¤° or cakrá, and Latin colÅ (to till, cultivate), Tocharian A and Tocharian B käl- (to bear, bring), Ancient Greek Ï€Îλω or pélÅ (to come into existence, become), Old Church Slavonic коло or kolo (wheel), Albanian sjell (to bring, carry, turn around), Avestan caraiti (it circulates), Sanskrit चरति or cárati (it moves, wanders). Doublet of chakra and cycle.
Noun
wheel (plural wheels)
- A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines.
- (nautical) The instrument attached to the rudder by which a vessel is steered.
- A spinning wheel.
- A potter's wheel.
- The breaking wheel, an old instrument of torture.
- (automotive) A wheelrim.
- A round portion of cheese.
- A Catherine wheel firework.
- A turn or revolution; rotation; compass.
- (figurative) A recurring or cyclical course of events.
- A maneuver in marching in which the marchers turn in a curving fashion to right or left so that the order of marchers does not change.
- (mathematics) A type of algebra where division is always defined, and in particular division by zero is meaningful.
- The real numbers can be extended to a wheel, as can any commutative ring.
Derived terms
- all-wheel drive
- Archibald wheel
- artillery wheel
- brake wheel
- breaking wheel
- cartwheel
- Catherine wheel
- color wheel
- daisy wheel
- Ferris wheel
- fifth wheel
- flywheel
- four-wheel drive
- freewheel
- hamster wheel
- pinwheel
- potter's wheel
- rear-wheel drive
- spinning wheel
- steering wheel
- training wheels
- two-wheel drive
- water wheel
- wheel and axle
- wheel barrow
- wheelchair
- wheelhouse
- wheel well
Verb
wheel (third-person singular simple present wheels, present participle wheeling, simple past and past participle wheeled)
- (transitive) To roll along on wheels.
- Wheel that trolley over here, would you?
- (transitive) To transport something or someone using any wheeled mechanism, such as a wheelchair.
- (intransitive) To change direction quickly, turn, pivot, whirl, wheel around.
- (transitive) To cause to change direction quickly, turn.
- (intransitive) To travel around in large circles, particularly in the air.
- The vulture wheeled above us.
- (transitive) To put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or revolve; to make or perform in a circle.
Credits
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