Etymology

wheelman

W4H4E1E1L1M3A1N1

Today it means: A driver of an automobile, especially a getaway vehicle in a criminal enterprise. Full definition →

Middle English man ← Old English mann ← Proto-West Germanic *mann
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kʷekʷléh₂
  3. Proto-Germanic*hweulō
  4. Old Englishhwēol
  5. Middle Englishwhel
  6. Englishwheel
  7. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  8. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  9. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  10. Old Englishmann
  11. Middle Englishman
  12. English todaywheelman

From wheel + -man.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.