Meanings
nounforklift (plural forklifts)
plural forklifts
- A small industrial vehicle with a power-operated fork-like pronged platform that can be raised and lowered for insertion under a load, often on pallets, to be lifted and moved.
The concrete floors of B2B sheds were already being built to an exacting degree of flatness, calibrated using lasers, so that forklifts would not teeter while lifting pallets to the highest shelves.
2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2025Synonyms: fork hoist, forklift truck, fork truck, hi-lo, jitney, lift truck, sideloader, stacker-truck
verbforklift (third-person singular simple present forklifts, present participle forklifting, simple past and past participle forklifted)
present singular third person forklifts · participle present forklifting · participle past forklifted · past forklifted
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small industrial vehicle with a power-operated fork-like pronged platform that can be raised and lowered for insertion under a load, often on pallets, to be lifted and moved.
Similar
fork hoistforklift truckfork truckhi-lojitneylift trucksideloaderstacker-trucktow-motortrailer loader
Origin
Translations
Arabic رَافِعَةٌ شَوْكِيَّةٌ
- رَافِعَةٌ شَوْكِيَّةٌ (rāfiʕatun šawkiyyatun)small industrial vehicle
Bulgarian мотока́р, автока́р
- мотока́р (motokár)small industrial vehicle
- автока́р (avtokár)small industrial vehicle
Catalan carretó elevador, toro mecànic
- carretó elevadorsmall industrial vehicle
- toro mecànicsmall industrial vehicle
Chinese Mandarin 叉車 /叉车, 鏟車 /铲车
- 叉車 /叉车 (chāchē)small industrial vehicle
- 鏟車 /铲车 (chǎnchē)small industrial vehicle
- 堆高機 /堆高机 (duīgāojī)small industrial vehicle
Czech vysokozdvižný vozík
- vysokozdvižný vozíksmall industrial vehicle
Danish gaffeltruck, truck
- gaffeltrucksmall industrial vehicle
- trucksmall industrial vehicle
Dutch vorkheftruck, heftruck
- vorkheftrucksmall industrial vehicle
- heftrucksmall industrial vehicle
- vorkliftsmall industrial vehicle
Esperanto ĉarelo, levĉaro
- ĉarelosmall industrial vehicle
- levĉarosmall industrial vehicle
Estonian kahveltõstuk
- kahveltõstuksmall industrial vehicle
Finnish haarukkatrukki, trukki
- haarukkatrukkismall industrial vehicle
- trukkismall industrial vehicle
French chariot élévateur, élévateur
- chariot élévateursmall industrial vehicle
- élévateursmall industrial vehicle
- clarksmall industrial vehicle
German Gabelstapler
- Gabelstaplersmall industrial vehicle
Greek περονοφόρο
- περονοφόρο (peronofóro)small industrial vehicle
Hebrew מַלְגֵּזָה
- מַלְגֵּזָה (malgezá)small industrial vehicle
Hindi फ़ोर्कलिफ़्ट
- फ़ोर्कलिफ़्ट (forkalifṭ)small industrial vehicle
Hungarian targonca, emelővillás targonca
- targoncasmall industrial vehicle
- emelővillás targoncasmall industrial vehicle
Icelandic lyftari
- lyftarismall industrial vehicle
Indonesian truk angkat susun
- truk angkat susunsmall industrial vehicle
Irish forcardaitheoir
- forcardaitheoirsmall industrial vehicle
Italian muletto, carrello elevatore
- mulettosmall industrial vehicle
- carrello elevatoresmall industrial vehicle
Japanese フォークリフト
- フォークリフト (fōkurifuto)small industrial vehicle
Korean 지게차, 포크리프트
- 지게차 (jigecha)small industrial vehicle
- 포크리프트 (pokeuripeuteu)small industrial vehicle
Malay trak angkat susun
- trak angkat susunsmall industrial vehicle
Māori wakatīrou, wakahiki
- wakatīrousmall industrial vehicle
- wakahikismall industrial vehicle
Norwegian Bokmål gaffeltruck, truck
- gaffeltrucksmall industrial vehicle
- trucksmall industrial vehicle
Polish wózek widłowy, wózek jezdniowy
- wózek widłowysmall industrial vehicle
- wózek jezdniowysmall industrial vehicle
Portuguese empilhadeira, empilhadora
- empilhadeirasmall industrial vehicle
- empilhadorasmall industrial vehicle
- empilhadorsmall industrial vehicle
Romanian stivuitor, motostivuitor
- stivuitorsmall industrial vehicle
- motostivuitorsmall industrial vehicle
Russian ви́лочный погру́зчик, автопогру́зчик
- ви́лочный погру́зчик (víločnyj pogrúzčik)small industrial vehicle
- автопогру́зчик (avtopogrúzčik)small industrial vehicle
- автока́р (avtokár)small industrial vehicle
Slovak vysokozdvižný vozík
- vysokozdvižný vozíksmall industrial vehicle
Spanish montacargas, carretilla elevadora
- montacargassmall industrial vehicle
- carretilla elevadorasmall industrial vehicle
- grúa horquillasmall industrial vehicle
- patosmall industrial vehicle
- mulasmall industrial vehicle
- torosmall industrial vehicle
- montacargasmall industrial vehicle
Swedish gaffeltruck, truck
- gaffeltrucksmall industrial vehicle
- trucksmall industrial vehicle
Thai รถยก
- รถยก (rót-yók)small industrial vehicle
Turkish kaldırmaç
- kaldırmaçsmall industrial vehicle
Ukrainian автованта́жник, автонаванта́жувач
- автованта́жник (avtovantážnyk)small industrial vehicle
- автонаванта́жувач (avtonavantážuvač)small industrial vehicle
- ви́лочний наванта́жувач (výločnyj navantážuvač)small industrial vehicle
- автовізо́к (avtovizók)small industrial vehicle
- автока́р (avtokár)small industrial vehicle
Vietnamese xe nâng hạ
- xe nâng hạsmall industrial vehicle
Welsh wagen fforch godi, fforch-godwr
- wagen fforch godismall industrial vehicle
- fforch-godwrsmall industrial vehicle
Cite this entry
APA
forklift. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forklift
MLA
“forklift.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forklift. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forklift,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forklift.
Source: forklift on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.