axle

American  

[ak-suhl] / ˈæk səl /

noun

axles plural

1. Machinery. the pin, bar, shaft, or the like, on which or by means of which a wheel or pair of wheels rotates.

2. the spindle at either end of an axletree.

3. an axletree.

---

axle British  

/ ˈæksəl /

noun

1. a bar or shaft on which a wheel, pair of wheels, or other rotating member revolves

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• axled
  adjective
• unaxled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• axles
  plural

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

axle axles

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

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

Foiling the visual expectations of a lifetime, the four-door’s glass roof joins the car’s sloping rear deck just over the rear axle, omitting a transparent panel of any kind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

In many instances, teams are using high-speed parts of the track to reduce engine output to the rear axle and charge the battery instead, a process known as "clipping".

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026

Then I drilled a hole in the middle of the two big circles and put a little post in there, like the axle of a wheel.

From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman

As a result, they are heavy—typically between 4,000-6,000 pounds—with steel frame rails, a reinforced suspension and solid axles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

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

The axles use open differentials and brake-based torque vectoring to articulate power left or right—an ability that could make the difference between getting to the ski resort or glumly waiting for a tow truck.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

The sound of the axles fades; silence seals itself back over the forest.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr