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.

Related terms

• wheelchair lift
• wheelchair sport
• wheelchair user

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)
• Catalan: cadira de rodes f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 輪椅, 轮椅 (leon⁴ji²)

  Mandarin: 輪椅 (zh), 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
• Estonian: ratastool (et)
• Faroese: koyristólur m, rullistólur m, akstólur m
• Finnish: pyörätuoli (fi) (colloquial, dated: rullatuoli (fi))
• 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)
• Korean: 휠체어 (ko) (hwilcheeo), 바퀴의자 (bakwiuija)
• Latin: sella rotalis f
• Latvian: ratiņkrēsls m
• Luxembourgish: Rollstull m
• Macedonian: инвали́дска количка f (invalídska količka)
• 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
• Swedish: rullstol (sv) c
• Telugu: చక్రాలకుర్చీ (cakrālakurcī)
• Ukrainian: інвалі́дний візо́к m (invalídnyj vizók), крі́сло-ката́лка n (kríslo-katálka)
• Uyghur: چاقلىق ئورۇندۇق‎ (chaqliq orunduq)
• Vietnamese: xe lăn (vi)
• Welsh: cadair olwyn f