wheel

English

/ʍiːl/, /ʍil/

noun
Definitions
  • A circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labour in machines.
  • The breaking wheel, an old instrument of torture.
  • (slang) A person with a great deal of power or influence; a big wheel.
  • (poker slang) The lowest straight in poker: ace, 2, 3, 4, 5.
  • (automotive) A wheelrim.
  • A round portion of cheese.
  • A Catherine wheel firework.
  • (obsolete) A rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form; a disk; an orb.
  • A turn or revolution; rotation; compass.
  • (figurative) A recurring or cyclical course of events.
  • (slang) A dollar.
  • (UK) A crown coin; a "cartwheel".

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English whele (wheel, boil) inherited from Old English hwēogol inherited from Proto-Germanic *hwehwlą inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷlóm, *kʷel- (turn, move, going around, revolve, far, dwell, and therefore to sojourn, revolve around).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*kʷel-

Gloss

turn, move, going around, revolve, far, dwell, and therefore to sojourn, revolve around

Concept
Semantic Field

Motion

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Emoji
🙃

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms