Etymology

sternwheel

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Today it means: A paddle wheel positioned at the stern of a vessel. Full definition →

English wheel ← Middle English whel ← Old English hwēol
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The story

  1. Englishstern
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
  3. Proto-Indo-European*kʷekʷléh₂
  4. Proto-Germanic*hweulō
  5. Old Englishhwēol
  6. Middle Englishwhel
  7. Englishwheel
  8. English todaysternwheel

From stern + wheel.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.