# wagon

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈwæɡ(ə)n/ · frequency rank #8,378

## Definitions
1. A heavier four-wheeled (normally horse-drawn) vehicle designed to carry goods (or sometimes people).
2. Abbreviation of toy wagon; A child's riding toy, with the same structure as a wagon (sense 1), pulled or steered by a long handle attached to the front.
3. A shopping cart.
4. A vehicle (wagon) designed to transport goods or people on railway.
5. Ellipsis of dinner wagon (“set of light shelves mounted on castors so that it can be pushed around a dining room and used for serving”).
6. Ellipsis of paddy wagon (“police van for transporting prisoners”).
7. Ellipsis of station wagon (“type of automobile”); (occasionally, loosely) any car, van, or light truck.
8. Term of abuse.
9. Term of abuse.
10. A kind of prefix used in de Bruijn notation.
11. Buttocks.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Middle Dutch wagen, from Old Dutch *wagan, from Proto-West Germanic *wagn, from Proto-Germanic *wagnaz (“wagon”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to transport”). Generally displaced native cognate wain, from Old English wæġn, of which it is a doublet. Related also to way, weigh.
Sense 8 (“woman of loose morals; obnoxious woman”) is probably a derogatory and jocular reference to a woman being “ridden”, that is, mounted for the purpose of sexual intercourse.
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **won** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-won)
- **wan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-wan)
- **warn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-warn)
- **WaPo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-wapo)
- **Wigan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-wigan)
- **wahoo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-wahoo)
- **weapon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-weapon)
- **Watson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-watson)
- **Walton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-walton)
- **wanton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagon-vs-wanton)
- **wag** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wag-vs-wagon)
- **wage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wage-vs-wagon)
- **Waco** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waco-vs-wagon)
- **wages** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wages-vs-wagon)
- **wager** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wager-vs-wagon)
- **waged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waged-vs-wagon)
- **Wagga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wagga-vs-wagon)

## Common misspellings (7)
`awgon`, `waggon`, `wagno`, `wagonn`, `waogn`, `wgaon`, `wwagon`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wagon