What does felloe mean?
A felloe is the outer rim of a spoked wheel — the part to which the spokes are joined and around which the tire, whether iron or rubber, is fitted. On traditional wooden wheels the rim is not usually one solid piece but an assembly of curved segments, each of which may itself be called a felloe, secured together and braced against the spokes. The word belongs mainly to the vocabulary of wheelwrights, coachbuilders, and historians of transport, since modern wheels rarely use this construction, though the term survives among restorers of carriages, carts, and early automobiles. It appears in writing about rural life and pre-industrial craft, where the soundness of every felloe could mean the difference between a safe journey and a broken axle on the road. Its variant spelling, felly, is older and still encountered in technical descriptions of wheel construction.
nounThe outer rim of a wheel, to which the spokes are attached and against which the tire is fitted; a segment of that rim.
- The outer rim of a spoked wheel, to which the spokes are fastened and which supports the tire.
"The wheelwright shaped each oak felloe carefully before bolting it to the spokes."
"The blacksmith shrank an iron tyre over the felloes to hold the wheel together."
"One cracked felloe was enough to take the vintage carriage out of service for a week."
Standard plural; the variant spelling 'fellies' takes the plural 'fellies'.
"The wheelwright steamed the felloes into shape around the iron rim."
Every spoke in an old wagon wheel ends at a felloe — the humble wooden arc that kept entire carriages from falling apart on rutted roads.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of felloe
The word 'felloe' arose as a variant of the older English word 'felly', which derives from Old English 'felg', meaning the rim of a wheel. This goes back to a common Germanic root, reflected in Dutch 'velg' and German 'Felge', both naming the same part of a wheel. The form 'felloe' developed through alteration of the ending, influenced perhaps by words like 'fellow', and became the more usual spelling in later use.
How felloe is actually used
Chiefly used in historical, craft, and specialist contexts such as wheelwrighting, coachbuilding, and discussions of horse-drawn vehicles; rare in everyday modern speech. The older form 'felly' (plural 'fellies') is an equivalent variant.
Easily confused with felloe
A 'fellow' is a companion or member of a group, while a 'felloe' is the wooden or metal outer rim of a wheel — they differ by only one letter.