noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of axle
before 900; Middle English axel, Old English eaxl shoulder, crossbeam (in eaxle-gespann ); cognate with Old Frisian ax ( e ) le, Old Saxon ahsla, Old High German ahsala shoulder ( German Achsel ), Old Norse ǫxl, Latin āla (< derivative of *akslā )
Explanation
An axle is a rod around which a wheel moves or rotates. The front wheels of your car sit on an axle, turning around it as the car moves. Any kind of vehicle with wheels uses some kind of axle for those wheels to rotate on. Trucks, buses, and cars have axles, and so do lawnmowers and wagons and even bicycles. The original, Middle English word for axle was axle-tree, which came from a combination of the Old Norse word öxull and the Old English eax, both of which mean "axis," or "line around which a body rotates."
Vocabulary lists containing axle
Automobiles
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 1
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Force and Motion (Mechanics) - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It's a situation F1 forced on itself by removing the MGU-H, which recovered energy from the turbo and exhaust, and not allowing recovery from the front axle.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The standard toll for a commercial truck using the Gordie Howe bridge is $8.75 per axle, compared with $20 an axle for the Ambassador Bridge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Its 45-ton axle was largest piece of steel ever forged until that time, demonstrating new advances in steel construction and mechanical engineering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
In order to achieve this salutary ratio, the engineers located the eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission at the rear axle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
No matter what I do—mousse, gel, axle grease—it always looks like I just came in from a windstorm.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
As of Sunday, GM appears to have about two weeks’ worth of axles in stock, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
The Opel Blitz was stuck fast in the deep gravel bed, almost up to its axles.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
Apart from that, the driveline is status quo ante, pretty much, with the logic-controlled mechanical center differential splitting torque between front and rear axles, in ratios determined by acceleration, deceleration, demand and available traction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
But we had a million pieces: bolts, screws, wheels, axles, brakes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 7, 2025
Its axles were set on piles of cinder blocks and the formerly yellow vehicle was painted a rather haphazard eggshell white.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
