rickshaw (English)
Where does "rickshaw" come from?
The word 'rickshaw' originates from the Middle Chinese term 'renliche', which literally translates to 'human-powered cart'. This concept was adopted into Japanese as 'jinrikisha', later shortened to 'rikisha', from which the English word was directly borrowed.
Full etymology tree
- rickshaw (English), 'A two-wheeled carriage pulled along by a person.'
- borrowed 力車 (rikisha) (Japanese), 'a rickshaw'
- clipping 人力車 (jinrikisha) (Japanese), 'a rickshaw'
- compound 人力 (jinriki) (Japanese), 'manpower, human power'
- inherited 人力 (nyin lik) (Middle Chinese)
- compound 車 (sha) (Japanese), 'vehicle'
- inherited 車 (t͡ʃʰæ) (Middle Chinese)
- compound 人力 (jinriki) (Japanese), 'manpower, human power'
- clipping 人力車 (jinrikisha) (Japanese), 'a rickshaw'
- borrowed 力車 (rikisha) (Japanese), 'a rickshaw'
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris