escalator

English

escalators (in background)

escalators

escalators

Etymology

From the former trademark Escalator, created by American inventor Charles Seeberger in 1900, from Latin e (“from, out of”) + scala (“ladder”) + -tor, which forms nouns of agency. See the appendix. Broader usage may be influenced by escalate, and is equivalent to escalate +‎ -or. For an alternative etymology, see the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: esʹkə-lā-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/
• Hyphenation: es‧ca‧la‧tor
• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

escalator (plural escalators)

1. Anything that escalates.
   • 2006, Dudley D. Cahn, Ruth Anna Abigail, Managing Conflict Through Communication, page xiv:

     Fourth, communication researchers study the role of stress and negative attitudes as key contributors to conflict, anger as an escalator of conflict, and emotional residues as barriers to reconciliation.

2. A motor-driven mechanical device consisting of a continuous loop of steps that automatically conveys people from one floor to another.

   Synonym: moving staircase (UK)

   There is a plastic molly-guard covering the escalator's shutdown button to prevent little kids from pushing it and stopping the escalator.

   • 1957 July, Charles E. Lee, “The Changing Face of Transport”, in Railway Magazine, page 451:

     It was the Earls Court installation on the Piccadilly tube, opened on October 4, 1911, which really began the successful career of the escalator in this country. At first the public mistrusted it, and a wooden-legged man called "Bumper" Harris was engaged to travel up and down all day to give passengers confidence. Today there are 181 escalators at 57 London Transport stations.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page xiv-xv, Preface:

     I found the Tube trains morbidly fascinating, I had a simpler enthusiasm for the escalators. Everyone likes going on escalators as far as I know. It feels like a free ride, and the longer they are, the better. The only escalator in York was at Marks & Spencer's, and people would hesitate for ages before getting on, apparently waiting for the right stair to come rolling along, whereas Londoners would step on while reading a newspaper.

   • 2021 June 30, Tim Dunn, “How we made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in RAIL, number 934, page 51:

     Episode Guide: [...] Episode 1 (July 13): Exploration of both ends of the abandoned branch between Holborn and Aldwych, including an interview with the driver of the last train. And a trip to Holloway Road to find out about the Tube's only spiral escalator. [This escalator never entered service]

3. An upward or progressive course.
   • 2009 February 19, Froma Harrop, “Housing aid may revive American dream for Latinos”, in Houston Chronicle:

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

4. An escalator clause.

   They agreed to a cost-of-living escalator.

Derived terms

• downalator
• escalator barrel
• escalator clause
• escalator school
• escalefter

Related terms

• escalate

Descendants

• → Japanese: エスカレーター

Translations

mechanical device

• Afrikaans: roltrap (af)
• Albanian: shkallë lëvizëse f
• Arabic: دَرَج مُتَحَرِّك m (daraj mutaḥarrik), سُلَّم مُتَحَرِّك m (sullam mutaḥarrik), سُلَّم دَوَّار m (sullam dawwār)
• Armenian: շարժասանդուղք (hy) (šaržasanduġkʻ)
• Azerbaijani: eskalator
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: эскала́тар m (eskalátar)
• Bengali: এস্কেলেটর (eskeleṭor)
• Bulgarian: ескала́тор m (eskalátor)
• Burmese: စက်လှေကား (cakhleka:)
• Catalan: escala mecànica (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 扶手電梯 / 扶手电梯 (fu⁴ sau² din⁶ tai¹), 電梯 / 电梯 (din⁶ tai¹)

  Mandarin: 自動扶梯 / 自动扶梯 (zh) (zìdòngfútī), 電動扶梯 / 电动扶梯 (zh) (diàndòng fútī), 自動電梯 / 自动电梯 (zìdòngdiàntī), 自動樓梯 / 自动楼梯 (zh) (zìdònglóutī), 自動鏈梯 / 自动链梯 (zìdòngliàntī), 升降階梯 / 升降阶梯 (shēngjiàngjiētī)

• Crimean Tatar: eskalator
• Czech: eskalátor m, pohyblivé schodiště n, pohyblivé schody pl, jezdicí schody pl, pojízdné schody m pl
• Danish: rulletrappe c
• Dutch: roltrap (nl) m
• Esperanto: eskalatoro (eo), rulŝtuparo (eo)
• Estonian: eskalaator
• Faroese: rullutrappa f
• Finnish: liukuportaat (fi) pl, liukuportaikko, rullaportaat (fi) pl
• French: escalator (fr) m, escalier mécanique (fr) m, escalateur (fr) m
• Georgian: ესკალატორი (esḳalaṭori)
• German: Rolltreppe (de) f, Fahrtreppe f
• Greek: κυλιόμενες σκάλες f pl (kyliómenes skáles)
• Hebrew: דְּרַגְנוֹעַ (he) m (dragnóa)
• Hindi: एस्केलेटर m (eskeleṭar), चलसोपान (calsopān), चलती सीढ़ी (caltī sīṛhī)
• Hungarian: mozgólépcső (hu)
• Icelandic: rúllustigi m
• Ido: eskalatoro (io)
• Indonesian: tangga berjalan (id), eskalator (id)
• Irish: staighre beo m
• Italian: scala mobile (it)
• Japanese: エスカレーター (ja) (esukarētā)
• Kazakh: эскалатор (éskalator)
• Khmer: ជណ្ដើរយោង (cŭəndaə yoong)
• Korean: 에스컬레이터 (ko) (eseukeolleiteo), 자동계단(自動階段) (ko) (jadonggyedan) (North Korea), 계단승강기(階段昇降機) (ko) (gyedanseungganggi) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: эскалатор (ky) (eskalator)
• Lao: ຂັ້ນໃດເລື່ອນ (khan dai lư̄an), ຂັ້ນໄດໄຟຟ້າ (khan dai fai fā)
• Latvian: eskalators m
• Lithuanian: eskalatorius m
• Lushootseed: lədᶻək̓ʷ səxʷʔigʷəɬ
• Macedonian: ескала́тор m (eskalátor)
• Malay: tangga elektrik, tangga gerak, eskalator
• Māori: ara maiangi, ēkareta (Borrowing from English)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: урсдаг шат (ursdag šat)

• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: escalateux m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rulletrapp (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: rulletrapp f

• Pashto: برقي ځينه f (barqí źiná)
• Persian:

  Dari: پِلَّه‌بَرْقِی (pilla-barqī), زِینَهٔ بَرْقِی (zīna-yi barqī)

  Iranian Persian: پِلِّه‌بَرْقی (pelle-barġi)

• Plautdietsch: Rolltrap f
• Polish: schody ruchome (pl) nvir pl, eskalator (pl) m
• Portuguese: escada rolante (pt)
• Romanian: scară rulantă (ro) f
• Russian: эскала́тор (ru) m (eskalátor)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: еска̀ла̄тор m

  Latin: eskàlātor (sh) m

• Slovak: eskalátor m, pohyblivé schody pl
• Slovene: tekoče stopnice f pl
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: běžeca stupnica f

• Spanish: escalera mecánica (es) f, escalera rodante f
• Swedish: rulltrappa (sv) c
• Tagalog: sigdan
• Tajik: эскалатор (tg) (eskalator)
• Thai: บันไดเลื่อน (th) (ban-dai-lʉ̂ʉan)
• Tibetan: གློག་འགུལ་སྐས་འཛེག (glog 'gul skas 'dzeg)
• Turkish: yürüyen merdiven (tr)
• Turkmen: eskalator
• Ukrainian: ескала́тор m (eskalátor)
• Urdu: ایسْکِلیٹَر m (eskileṭar)
• Uzbek: eskalator (uz)
• Vietnamese: thang cuốn (vi)
• Volapük: rolatridem
• Welsh: esgaladur m
• Yiddish: עסקאַלאַטאָר m (eskalator)

Verb

escalator (third-person singular simple present escalators, present participle escalatoring, simple past and past participle escalatored)

1. (intransitive, informal) To move by escalator.

   Synonym: (rare) escalate

   We escalatored to the second floor.

See also

• movator
• moving pavement, moving sidewalk
• moving ramp
• moving walkway
• stairway
• step
• travelator

Further reading

• escalator on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:escalators on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• acetarsol, crotalase

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English escalator. Genericized trademark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs.ka.la.tɔʁ/

Noun

escalator m (plural escalators)

1. escalator

   Synonyms: escalier roulant, escalier mécanique

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French escalator.

Noun

escalator n (plural escalatoare)

1. escalator

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	escalator	escalatorul		escalatoare	escalatoarele
genitive-dative	escalator	escalatorului		escalatoare	escalatoarelor
vocative	escalatorule			escalatoarelor