# wheel = vehicle



## Gavril

In some languages, a word meaning "wheel" can also refer to an entire wheeled vehicle:

Icelandic _hjól _"wheel", also "bicycle" or "motorcycle" (the full word for "bicycle" is _reiðhjól_, "ride-wheel")

Finnish _pyörä _"wheel", also "bicycle"/"motorcycle" (full word for "bicycle" = _polkupyörä, _"path-wheel")

Japanese _kuruma _"wheel", also "automobile"

English (slang) _wheels _"automobile"


Can you think of any other examples?


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## Frank78

The German "Rad" (wheel) is also a short form of "Fahrrad" (bicycle).


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## hui

Gavril said:


> Finnish _pyörä _"wheel", also "bicycle"/"motorcycle" (full word for "bicycle" = _polkupyörä, _"path-wheel")



Actually, _polkupyörä_ is not "path-wheel" but "tread-wheel" (from _polku_ < _polkea_; to tread, pedal)


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## DearPrudence

In *French*, we don't use "*roue*" (wheel) to refer to a vehicle.
(but colloquially we can say "*une caisse*" (_a box_) for a car).


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## Orlin

In Bulgarian _колело_ (wheel) is _colloquially_ used for _a bicycle _too.


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## apmoy70

In Greek «ρόδα» ('roða, _f._)--> _wheel_ (Venetian loan word, _roda_) is the slang word for the car. It's not used for the bicycle, nor the motorcycle (we call the latter colloquially, «μηχανή», /mixa'ni/ a feminine noun meaning just..."machine")


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## jazyk

Wheel in Portuguese is roda. I don't think the word refers to any vehicle, at least not that I am aware of.


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## AutumnOwl

The Swedish word for _wheel_ is _hjul_, and _tricycles_ are called _trehjuling_ (three-wheeler) and you can sometimes hear_ tvåhjuling_ (two-wheeler) used about bicycles, and I've seen _elektrisk tvåhjuling _(electric two-wheeler) used about the Segway, http://www.dn.se/sthlm/polisen-testar-eldriven-tvahjuling


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## bibax

Czech: *kolo* = wheel, bicycle;

Latin: *rota* = wheel, *rotae* (plur.) = car, chariot (driven by horses);


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## ThomasK

Not in Dutch: we have a simple word *fiets *for 'bike', or we use rijden (ride), which with us refers to cars & bikes without any context and for cars we consider the chariot part the central part, not just the wheels (*'kar' *in Dutch/ Flemish), or the container aspect ('doos' [box] maybe, 'huis op wielen' maybe, but those are not common). [I invite other native speakers to complement or correct...]


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## ger4

German: "Rad" = "wheel", but also the short form of "Fahrrad" = "bicycle"


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## Radioh

DearPrudence said:


> In *French*, we don't use "*roue*" (wheel) to refer to a vehicle.
> (but colloquially we can say "*une caisse*" (_a box_) for a car).



Same here. We use 'box' (hộp) to refer to 'car'. 'Wheel'(bánh) alone does not refer to a vehicle, but 'bốn bánh'(four wheel) is used for 'car'.


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## Gavril

Radioh said:


> Same here. We use 'box' (hộp) to refer to 'car'. 'Wheel'(bánh) alone does not refer to a vehicle, but 'bốn bánh'(four wheel) is used for 'car'.



Is this use of _hộp_ possibly due to French influence?


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## ThomasK

ThomasK said:


> Not in Dutch: we have a simple word *fiets *for 'bike', or we use rijden (ride), which with us refers to cars & bikes without any context and for cars we consider the chariot part the central part, not just the wheels (*'kar' *in Dutch/ Flemish), or the container aspect ('doos' [box] maybe, 'huis op wielen' maybe, but those are not common). [I invite other native speakers to complement or correct...]


Good heavens, I forgot about *rijwiel*, riding wheel !


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## Radioh

Hi, Gavril. I thought so as well when I read DearPrudence's post, but couldn't find any source mentioning that. All I found is that the word "hộp" had that meaning when Vietnam was still a colony of France. So yes, it's possibly.


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian *
wheel - kerék [13th century] form the adjective kerek (round)
bicycle - kerékpár [1883] - according to the German "Zweirad" (wheel+pair)


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## Sobakus

Russian:
_колес*о*_=wheel
_кол*я*ска_=carriage; pram (literally 'wheeled thing')

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the word _bicycle_ (=two-wheel) itself, which is likely the source of every "wheel-in-lieu-of-bicycle" cases mentioned in this thread.


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## bibax

Czech:

*kolečko* (dim. of kolo = wheel, bicycle) = little wheel, *wheelbarrow*;


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Wheel-Gulong. Bicycle-dalwahang gulong- bisikleta. Car- kotse or apatang gulong na sasakyan.


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## arielipi

in hebrew we say wheels גלגלים galgalim.


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## Zsanna

In Hungarian it doesn't mean any vehicle on its own but there is a saying involving the term "5th wheel" (= ötödik kerék) that indicates a person who is "in the way"/"not wanted"/"useless" _and_ making others feel unconfortable not to be able to tell it to her/him and having to put up with the situation. (Obviously referring to a vehicle that doesn't need 5 wheels to go ahead - on the contrary: it would be a problem.)

It can be used for oneself, too: "I don't want to be the 5th wheel", so I'm not going there." = I couldn't be useful/I would just hinder others in what they are doing.


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## bibax

The same in German, Czech and English:

Ich fühle mich wie das fünfte Rad am Wagen.
Cítím se jako páté kolo u vozu.
I feel like a fifth wheel.


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## 123xyz

Macedonian:

wheel = тркало, which cannot refer to any specific vehicle by means of synecdoche. 

However, the colloquial word for bicycle, namely "точак" (the official word is "велосипед"), is the BCS word for wheel.


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