carousel

English

A carousel ride (noun sense 1).

A baggage carousel (noun sense 2) at an airport.

A carousel UI component (noun sense 4).

Alternative forms

• carrousel

Etymology

From French carrousel, from Italian carosello, from Sicilian caruseḍḍu and/or Neapolitan carusiello. Uncertain. Some suggested a derivation from carro (“cart”), from Latin carrus, but this does not fit the criteria of an appropriate morphological reconstruction. Not believed to be related to carousal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌkærəˈsɛl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkæɹəˈsɛl/ IPA^(key): /ˈkæɹəsɛl/ IPA^(key): /ˌkæɹəˈzɛl/

Noun

carousel (plural carousels)

2. A pleasure ride, typically found at amusement parks and fairs and accompanied by music, consisting of a slowly revolving circular platform on which are fixed various seats, frequently shaped like horses or other animals, cars, etc., which may also move up and down; a merry-go-round.

   Synonyms: giddy-go-round, (dated) merry-go-around, (rare) merry-go-whirl, roundabout, whirligig

   • 1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, chapter 25, in The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC:

     That's one nice thing about carrousels,^[sic] they always play the same song.

4. A revolving device for item delivery or display.

   After collecting his suitcase at the baggage carousel, he left the airport.

   • 2023, Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Penguin, →ISBN, page 44:

     It struck me as a perky, whine-free name—the kind of standard-issue handle that could be found on necklaces hanging off carousels in roadside souvenir shops, next to the saltwater taffy.

5. The rotating glass plate in a microwave oven.
7. (graphical user interface) A visual component that displays a horizontal series of items one at a time.
8. An equestrian discipline in which groups of riders make various formations.
9. (historical) A tilting match or tournament accompanied by games, shows, and allegorical performances.
10. (computing) Synonym of jukebox (“automated carousel for the storage and retrieval of tapes, CD-ROMs, etc.”).

Usage notes

Not to be confused with carousal (“state of carousing; an instance of this”).

Derived terms

• baggage carousel
• carousel fraud
• carousel trade
• carousel voting
• ice carousel
• ride the cock carousel

Translations

pleasure ride consisting of a slowly revolving circular platform on which are fixed various seats

• Albanian: karusel m
• Arabic: كارُوسِيل m (kārūsīl), دُوَّامَة خَيْل f (duwwāmat ḵayl)
• Armenian: կարուսել (hy) (karusel)
• Azerbaijani: fırlanğıc (az)
• Belarusian: карусэ́ль f (karusélʹ), карусе́ль f (karusjélʹ)
• Bulgarian: въртелѐжка (bg) f (vărtelèžka)
• Catalan: carrussel m, cavallets (ca) m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 旋轉木馬 / 旋转木马 (zh) (xuánzhuǎn mùmǎ, literally “rotating wooden horses”)

• Czech: kolotoč (cs) m
• Danish: karrusel (da) c
• Dutch: carrousel (nl) m, draaimolen (nl) m
• Esperanto: karuselo
• Estonian: karussell (et)
• Faroese: karusell, ringreið
• Finnish: karuselli (fi)
• French: carrousel (fr) m, manège (fr) m
• Galician: carrusel (gl) m, cabaliños m
• Georgian: კარუსელი (ḳaruseli)
• German: Karussell (de) n, Ringelspiel (de) n
• Greek: καρουζέλ (el) n (karouzél), αλογάκια (el) n pl (alogákia), στροβιλοδρόμιο n (strovilodrómio)
• Hebrew: קָרוּסֶלָה (he) f (karuséla)
• Hindi: चक्कर देनेवाला हिंडोला m (cakkar denevālā hiṇḍolā), हिंडोला (hi) m (hiṇḍolā)
• Hungarian: karusszel (hu) (archaic), körhinta (hu), ringlispíl (hu)
• Icelandic: hringekja (is) f
• Irish: timpeallán spraoi m
• Italian: carosello (it) m, giostra (it) f
• Japanese: カルーセル (ja) (karūseru), 回転木馬 (ja) (かいてんもくば, kaiten mokuba), メリーゴーラウンド (ja) (merīgōraundo)
• Kashubian: karasela f
• Kazakh: карусель (karusel)
• Korean: 회전목마(回轉木馬) (ko) (hoejeonmongma)
• Kyrgyz: карусель (karusel)
• Lao: ມ້າໝຸນ (mā mun)
• Latvian: karuselis m
• Lithuanian: karuselė f
• Macedonian: вртелешка f (vrteleška), рингишпил m (ringišpil)
• Māori: porowhawhe, takaāwhio
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: karusell (no) m

  Nynorsk: karusell m

• Occitan: carrossèl m, carrossèu m, cavalets m pl, vira-vira m
• Pannonian Rusyn: ринґишпил m (ringišpil)
• Persian: کاروسِل (kârusel), چَرخ و فَلَک (fa) (čarx o falak)
• Polish: karuzela (pl) f
• Portuguese: carrossel (pt) m
• Romanian: carusel (ro) n, călușei m pl, ringhișpil n (regional, dated)
• Russian: карусе́ль (ru) f (karusélʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: обртаљка f, ринглшпил m, рингишпил m, вртешка f

  Latin: obrtaljka (sh) f, ringlšpil (sh) m, ringišpil (sh) m, vrteška (sh) f

• Slovak: kolotoč m
• Slovene: vrtiljak (sl) m
• Spanish: carrusel (es) m (Latin America), caballitos (es) m (Latin America), calesita (es) f (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), tiovivo (es) m (Spain)
• Swedish: karusell (sv) c
• Tagalog: tiyubibo
• Tajik: чархуфалак (čarxufalak)
• Tatar: карусель (qaruselʹ)
• Thai: ม้าหมุน (th) (máa-mǔn)

  Northern Thai: ᨾ᩶ᩣᩉ᩠ᨾᩩᨶ

• Turkish: atlıkarınca (tr)
• Ukrainian: карусе́ль f (karusélʹ)
• Urdu: ہِنڈولا m (hiṇḍolā)
• Uzbek: karusel (uz)
• Vietnamese: đu quay, trò kéo quân, vòng quay ngựa gỗ
• Volapük: karusäl
• Welsh: carwsél, chwyrligwgan

revolving device to deliver items

• Bulgarian: карусел m (karusel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行李傳送帶 / 行李传送带 (zh)

• Dutch: bagageband (nl) c
• Esperanto: transportbendo
• Finnish: karuselli (fi), matkatavarakaruselli
• Georgian: კარუსელი (ḳaruseli)
• German: Band (de) n, Gepäckband (de) n, (Maschinenbau) Revolver m
• Indonesian: karusel, komidi putar (id)
• Italian: carosello (it) m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 수하물 컨베이어 벨트 (suhamul keonbeieo belteu)
• Polish: karuzela (pl) f
• Russian: карусе́ль (ru) f (karusélʹ)

rotating glass plate in a microwave oven

• Bulgarian: тава (bg) f (tava), чиния (bg) f (činija), поставка (bg) f (postavka)
• Finnish: pyörivä lautanen
• German: Mikrowellen-Teller m

See also

• whirligig

Verb

carousel (third-person singular simple present carousels, present participle (US) carouseling or (UK) carouselling, simple past and past participle (US) carouseled or (UK) carouselled)

1. To revolve or change places.

Translations

to revolve or change places

• Bulgarian: въртя се (vărtja se)
• Finnish: pyöriä (fi)
• German: (vr.) sich drehen, (vr.) sich drehen, Platz wechseln (Tanz), (etwas) umkreisen (Planet), (etwas) umkreisen (Planet)

Further reading

• carousel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia