The story
- Middle Chinese人 (nyin)
- Middle Chinese力 (lik)
- Middle Chinese人力
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷékʷlos
- Middle Chinese車
- Japanese人力車clip.
- Japanese力車
- English todayrickshaw
Borrowed from Japanese 力(りき)車(しゃ) (rikisha), a clipping of 人(じん)力(りき)車(しゃ) (jinrikisha), from Middle Chinese 人力 (nyin lik, “human power”) + 車 (t͡ʃʰæ, “cart”) (compare Mandarin 人力車 /人力车 (rénlìchē)).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.