escalator

English

Escalators

Etymology

From Escalator created by American inventor Charles Seeberger in 1900, from Latin e (“from", "out of”) + scala (“step”) + -or, which forms nouns of agency. Formerly a trademark. See: the appendix. Broader usage may be influenced by escalate For an alternative etymology, see Online Etymology Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tə/
• (US) enPR: esʹkə-lā-tər, IPA: /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/
• Hyphenation: es‧ca‧la‧tor

Noun

escalator (plural escalators)

1. A motor-driven mechanical device consisting of a continuous loop of steps that automatically conveys people from one floor to another.
2. An upward or progressive course.
   • 2009‎ ‎Feb 19, Froma Harrop, “Housing aid may revive American dream for Latinos”, Houston Chronicle:

     Lots of people fell for the pitch that real estate was an up-only escalator into the American Dream

3. An escalator clause.

   They agreed to a cost-of-living escalator.

Derived terms

• escalator clause

Related terms

• escalate

Translations

mechanical device

• Afrikaans: roltrap (af)
• Arabic: درج متحرك (ar) (dáraj mutaHárrik) m, سلم متحرك (ar) (súllam mutaHárrik) m, سلم دوار (ar) (súllam dawwaar) m
• Cantonese: 扶手電梯
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自動扶梯 (cmn), 自动扶梯 (cmn) (zìdòng fútī), 自動電梯 (cmn), 自动电梯 (cmn) (zìdòng diàntī), 自動樓梯 (cmn), 自动楼梯 (cmn) (zìdòng lóutī), 自動鏈梯 (cmn), 自动链梯 (cmn) (zìdòng liàntī), 升降階梯 (cmn), 升降阶梯 (cmn) (shēngjiàng jiētī)

• Czech: eskalátor (cs) m, pohyblivé schodiště (cs) n, pohyblivé schody (cs) pl, jezdicí schody (cs) pl
• Dutch: roltrap (nl) m
• Esperanto: eskalatoro (eo), rulŝtuparo (eo)
• Estonian: eskalaator (et)
• Finnish: liukuportaat (fi) pl
• French: escalator (fr) m, escalier mécanique (fr) m, escalateur (fr) m
• German: Rolltreppe (de) f, Fahrtreppe (de) f
• Hebrew: דְּרַגְנוֹעַ (he) (dragnoa) m
• Hungarian: mozgólépcső (hu)
• Icelandic: rúllustigi (is) m
• Japanese: エスカレーター (ja) (esukarētā)
• Jèrriais: escalateux m

• Korean: 에스컬레이터 (ko) (eseukeolleiteo)
• Malay: tangga elektrik (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rulletrapp (nb) m and f

  Nynorsk: rulletrapp (nn) f

• Persian: پله برقی (fa) (peleh bærghī), پله برقی (fa) (peleh bærghī)
• Polish: ruchome schody (pl) pl
• Portuguese: escada rolante (pt)
• Russian: эскалатор (ru) (eskalátor) m 
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ескалатор (sh) (eskalator) m

  Roman: eskalator (sh) m

• Slovak: eskalátor (sk) m, pohyblivé schody (sk) pl
• Spanish: escalera mecánica (es) f
• Swedish: rulltrappa (sv) c
• Turkish: yürüyen merdiven (tr)
• Vietnamese: thang cuốn (vi), thang máy (vi)
• Volapük: rolatridem (vo)
• Welsh: esgaladur (cy) m

See also

• Escalator on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Escalator on Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons
• movator
• moving pavement, moving sidewalk
• moving ramp
• moving walkway
• stairway
• step
• travelator