wheelchair

wheelchair

English

A wheelchair.

A dog wheelchair.

Alternative forms

• wheel-chair

Etymology

From wheel +‎ chair.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwiːlt͡ʃɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)wilt͡ʃɛɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

wheelchair (plural wheelchairs)

1. A chair mounted on large wheels for the transportation or use of a sick or disabled person.
   • 2021 January 13, Paul Clifton, “Island Line bids farewell to 1930s "icon of transport"...”, in Rail, page 9:

     "And there are aspirations that we must rightly meet - people travelling in a wheelchair should be able to get on and off the train."

2. (attributive) Designed for use by wheelchairbound people.
3. (by extension) Any device involving wheels designed to assist a non-human animal with locomotion.
   • 2020 March 1, Gabe Bergado, “Watch this tortoise zip around town in a giant wheelchair”, The Daily Dot:

     To build the wheelchair, Dale Ryder attached wheels from a toy plane to an axle that fits over Mrs. T’s shell.

Usage notes

• See wheelchairbound. The expressions bound to a wheelchair and confined to a wheelchair are both inaccurate and offensive, as wheelchairs are intended as freedom enhancers.

Related terms

• wheelchair lift
• wheelchair sport
• wheelchair user

Descendants

• → Persian: ویلچر‎ (vilčer)

Translations

chair

Arabic: كُرْسِيّ لِلْمُقْعَدِين‎ m (kursiyy li-l-muqʿadīn), كُرْسِيّ مُتَحَرِّك‎ m (kursiyy mutaḥarrik) Armenian: անվասայլակ (hy) (anvasaylak) Asturian: siella de ruedes f Azerbaijani: təkərli kürsü, əlil arabası Bulgarian: инвалидна количка f (invalidna količka) Burmese: ဘီးတပ်ကုလားထိုင် (bhi:tapku.la:htuing) Catalan: cadira de rodes f Chinese: Cantonese: 輪椅, 轮椅 (leon⁴ji²) Mandarin: 輪椅／轮椅 (zh) (lúnyǐ) Cornish: kador ros f Czech: invalidní vozík m Danish: rullestol (da) c, kørestol (da) c Dutch: rolstoel (nl) m Elfdalian: rullstuol m Esperanto: rulseĝo, radseĝo sg Estonian: ratastool (et) Faroese: koyristólur m, rullistólur m, akstólur m Finnish: pyörätuoli (fi); rullatuoli (fi) (colloquial, dated) French: fauteuil roulant (fr) m, chaise roulante (fr) f Galician: cadeira de rodas f Georgian: ინვალიდის სავარძელი (invalidis savarʒeli) German: Rollstuhl (de) m, Krankenfahrstuhl m, Fahrstuhl (de) m Greek: αναπηρικό καροτσάκι (el) n (anapirikó karotsáki) Greenlandic: issiavik assakaasulik Hawaiian: noho huila Hebrew: כִּסֵּא גַּלְגַּלִּים / כיסא גלגלים‎ (he) m (kisé galgalím) Hindi: व्हीलचेयर (vhīlceyar) Hungarian: kerekesszék (hu), (dated and possibly offensive) tolószék (hu), (dated and possibly offensive) tolókocsi (hu) Icelandic: hjólastóll m Ido: rulstulo Indonesian: kursi roda (id) Irish: cathaoir rothaí f Italian: sedia a rotelle f Japanese: 車椅子 (ja) (くるまいす, kurumaisu), ホイールチェア (hoīruchea) Khmer: រទេះជនពិការ (rɔtih cŭən pikaa) Korean: 휠체어 (ko) (hwilcheeo), 바퀴의자 (bakwiuija) Latin: sella rotalis f Latvian: ratiņkrēsls m Luxembourgish: Rollstull m Macedonian: инвали́дска ко́личка f (invalídska kólička), ко́личка f (kólička) Maltese: siġġu tar-roti f Manx: caair wheeylagh f Maori: tūru wīra Navajo: ił naalbąąsí Norman: tchaîse à reues f Norwegian: rullestol (no) m Persian: ویلچر‎ (fa) (vilčer) Plautdietsch: Rollstool m Polish: wózek inwalidzki (pl) m Portuguese: cadeira de rodas f Romanian: scaun rulant n, scaun cu rotile n Romansch: sutga cun rodas f Russian: кре́сло-ката́лка n (kréslo-katálka), инвали́дное кре́сло n (invalídnoje kréslo), инвали́дная коля́ска f (invalídnaja koljáska), кре́сло-коля́ска (ru) n (kréslo-koljáska) Scottish Gaelic: cathair-cuibhle f Spanish: silla de ruedas (es) f Swahili: kitimaguru, kiti cha magurudumu, kiti mwendo Swedish: rullstol (sv) c Telugu: చక్రాలకుర్చీ (cakrālakurcī) Turkish: tekerlekli sandalye (tr) Ukrainian: інвалі́дний візо́к m (invalídnyj vizók), крі́сло-ката́лка n (kríslo-katálka) Uyghur: چاقلىق ئورۇندۇق‎ (chaqliq orunduq) Vietnamese: xe lăn (vi) Welsh: cadair olwyn f

See also

• Merlin chair
• rolling chair