calèche

/kəˈlɛʃ/

noun

A type of carriage with low wheels, especially pulled by horses.

Meanings

nouncalèche (plural calèches)

plural calèches · alternative calash · alternative caleche

  1. A type of carriage with low wheels, especially pulled by horses.

    He laughed merrily, showing his compact row of teeth, and drawing his cap over the bald patch, went out and got into the calèche.

    1918, Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, tr. Louise & Aylmer Maude (Oxford 1998, p. 179)
    2 more examples

    Francesca promised, and the Queen advancing towards the calèche, hastily followed her. The carriage drove off; though not till Anne had given Voiture a most gracious smile, and bid him remember the verses.

    1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 251

    All that she knew--and this was comforting--was that soon they would all be starting for home: not in a crowded, jostling old coche, but in a calèche. What a wonderful man Bibi was: so grand and powerful and rich, that he had a calèche of his own and could come and go as he pleased.

    1927, Emma Orczy, Sir Percy Hits Back

Origin

  1. Frenchcalèche
  2. Englishcalèche

Borrowed from French calèche, from Slavic diminutive of ‘wheel’ (compare Russian коляска (koljaska), Polish kolasa).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish kiesit
  • kiesittype of carriage
French calèche
  • calèchetype of carriage
German Kalesche
  • Kaleschetype of carriage
Italian calesse
  • calessetype of carriage
Polish kolasa
  • kolasatype of carriage
Swedish kalesch
  • kaleschtype of carriage

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with calèche

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

calèche. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cal%C3%A8che

MLA

“calèche.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cal%C3%A8che. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “calèche,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cal%C3%A8che.

Source: calèche on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.