sternwheeler

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noun

A vessel (especially a paddle steamer) propelled by a single paddle wheel positioned at the stern

OriginEnglish sternwheel ← Middle English whel ← Old English hwēol →
RareScrabble 18
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Meanings

nounsternwheeler (plural sternwheelers)

plural sternwheelers

  1. nauticalA vessel (especially a paddle steamer) propelled by a single paddle wheel positioned at the stern

    Williams's steamboat crossed paths with a boat that was at the start of its voyage upstream, a long, boxy sternwheeler with a funnel and pilothouse on its top deck.

    1998, Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost, Pan, published 2012, page 140

Origin

  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. Englishsternwheel
  9. Englishsternwheeler

From sternwheel + -er.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sternwheeler. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sternwheeler

MLA

“sternwheeler.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sternwheeler. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sternwheeler,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sternwheeler.

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