Etymology

wheelbarrow

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Today it means: A small, one-wheeled (or rarely, two-wheeled) cart with handles at one end for transporting small loads. Full definition →

Middle English whelbarwe ← Old English *bearwe ← Proto-West Germanic *barwijā
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kʷekʷléh₂
  3. Proto-Germanic*hweulō
  4. Old Englishhwēol
  5. Middle Englishwhel
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  7. Proto-Germanic*barwijǭ
  8. Proto-West Germanic*barwijā
  9. Old English*bearwe
  10. Middle Englishbarwe
  11. Middle Englishwhelbarwe
  12. English todaywheelbarrow

From Middle English whelbarwe; equivalent to wheel + barrow.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.