Talk:Cart

Baby transport

I really don't think that pushchair and perambulator should redirect here. Even worse is the redirect for pram (Parallel Random Access Machine). Anyone think of a decent collective term for these so that a new article could be created? violet/riga (t) 21:36, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

• Perhaps Baby travel systems, seeing as that seems to be a popular term used by retailers. violet/riga (t) 21:41, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Created Baby transport. violet/riga (t) 20:29, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Two wheels or four

What should be the scope of this article - just the two-wheeled vehicles or two- and four-wheeled vehicles? If it includes four-wheeled vehicles, shouldn't wagon be merged with it? Nurg 05:00, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

I think there are also three-wheeled vehicles, although not as common as two- or four- ones. It's basically a two-wheeled one with an extra wheel to prevent tipping over when not attended. It's somewhat easier to change direction than a four-wheeled vehicle. I have seen a commercially made one used as a baby carriage. --Revth 07:47, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

What about wheelbarrows, are they a type of cart?--Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 17:32, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

It's true that Merriam-Webster defines "cart" as (a) a heavy, two-wheeled vehicle usually drawn by horses, (b) a lightweight, two-wheeled vehicle drawn by horse, pony, or dog, and (c) a small wheeled vehicle. I suppose you could redo the 'types of cart' section, which is pretty rambly. I would go for heavy, medium, and light for the two-wheeled kind; send people off to 'wagon' for four wheels and 'wheelbarrow' for one. Three you could knock off in a sentence. (I'm not sure a three-wheeled baby carriage qualifies as a cart except in the most generic sense.) — OtherDave 17:55, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

A wheelbarrow is a barrow, a one or two-wheeled hand-propelled vehicle which is guided from the rear. It is of a class with sack barrow, box barrow, stone barrow, costermonger's barrow and luggage barrow. Most of these have two wheels but the wheelbarrow is adapted to use on a plank and to being particularly manoeuvrable.

A cart is the converse of a barrow. It is a two-wheeled vehicle, drawn and guided from the front. Though there are some borderline cases such as the chasse-marée and the wheeled troika which really fall just outside the definition, a animal-drawn cart is propelled by one animal. The hand cart is best seen in the jinricksha (rickshaw), rather than in anything seen in cart articles in Wikipedia.

The article needs to be cleaned up so that the real meaning of the word 'cart' is made clear, so that readers understand what the word is about. Then, all the modern misconceived uses can treated, with this understanding established.(RJP 12:13, 28 December 2006 (UTC))

OED gives cart as "a strong open vehicle with two or four wheels, typically used for carrying loads and pulled by a horse." So I don't think it's OK to define cart as a two wheeler. I'd say the "carrying loads" bit is more definitive, as opposed to purely human transport. JackyR | Talk 18:41, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

OED (the full 1933) gives cart correctly as "with two wheels" and parenthetically "Distinguished from a wagon, which has four wheels". The Pocket Oxford doesn't specify wheels. Usage after this date has become more lax, but the 2-wheel distinction remains for horse carts. Andy Dingley (talk) 23:28, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Walking Cart photo added

I added a photo to the 'Cart' article today. I am also working on an edit to the "Cart" article. I want to add a small mention of 'Walking Carts',and 'Cart Walks' as being a recreational mode of foot travel. During a 'Cart Walk'; two wheeled, (and sometimes four wheeled) light weight carts, carry the food, water, sleeping shelter, clothes, and all trip supplies. The 'cart walker' travels apx. 25 miles a day, and ideally uses the smallest of back roads. I have two newspaper articles for use as reference and citation.Wikirjd7 (talk) 03:30, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Note, I went back and set the photo copyright permission to "public domain-self", I hope that fixes the copyright permission tag issue..if not, I will make things right tomorrow.Wikirjd7 (talk) 04:40, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Merge of Float (horse-drawn)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result of this discussion was to keep as separate articles. (non-admin closure) Trevj (talk) 14:54, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

---

• Oppose No reason given to justify merge. It's a distinct type of cart, as are many others with separate articles. There are also inbound links specific to the meaning of float, as distinct from other carts. Andy Dingley (talk) 15:48, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

• Oppose. Clearly this is inappropriate, as a float is not a cart at all but a wagon (it has four wheels not two). Float (horse-drawn) does not belong in this article either. Richard New Forest (talk) 21:18, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Mormons?

Handcarts pushed by humans have been used around the world. *In the 19th century, for instance, some Mormons traveling across the plains of the United States between 1856 and 1860 used handcarts.*

Why is this here exactly? Thanuhrei (talk) 17:57, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

I have replaced it with a sentence about the Yamnaya Culture, who probably invented the cart. This felt more in-character with the topic of the paragraph, and for some reason wasn't mentioned in this article yet. Thanuhrei (talk) 18:04, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

Cart vs. Wagon?

Is a cart distinguished from a wagon by the number of wheels? Should we clarify that distinction in the article? -- Avocado (talk) 13:45, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

@Avocado: It's not as simple as counting wheels. In the broadest sense of horse-drawn vehicles, then yes... two wheels is in the cart class, wagons have four wheels (never two). However—and that's a big 'however'—even in horse-drawn lingo, 'cart' is sometimes used for wagons. You see, two-wheeled vehicles can be divided into several categories (such as cart, car, carriage) and four-wheeled vehicles can also be divided into several categories (wagon, carriage, coach). And 'cart' is often used to indicate the bottom of both the two- and four-wheeled vehicles: those which are rough-built, often unpainted, and used for agriculture or commerce.

The naming of vehicles is slippery because vehicles changed names over time, and the same names were used for multiple types of vehicles; it's never quite a one-to-one corresponding.

Some of the online dictionaries define cart as having two or four wheels, but I have two sources for you (excerpts only; bold emphasis is mine):

• The cart is a two-wheel vehicle that is made in numerous varieties, primarily as a freight carrier, though eventually many types of passenger-carrying carts evolved.
• In the broadest sense a cart was always two-wheeled, known to many early civilisations before the wagon. It could be used as either a passenger carrier or for merchandise and agricultural purposes. ... In modern times the passenger cart was frequently a country or informal sporting vehicle, not as costly or well-furnished as coaches or carriages. They were frequently an individual means of transport, owner-driven. Examples include the dogcart, market cart, tub cart, etc., drawn by a cob or pony rather than a full-sized horse. A number of such vehicles occupy an area of compromise, termed carts by some people and cars or carriages by others. This chiefly relates to their use and standards of finish, although a source of controversy even among experts.

Even if we stick to the simplistic "two versus four", not all four-wheeled are wagons, so I'm not sure how you would word it. Even the word 'carriage', which many people assume is always four-wheeled is not limited by number of wheels. If you have a suggestion on specific wording, I'm happy to assist.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 15:21, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for the detailed explanation, Grorp! If time allows over the weekend, I'll come back to this and try to figure out a way to incorporate it into the article. -- Avocado (talk) 12:46, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

References

"Dead cart" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Dead cart has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 May 12 § Dead cart until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 09:18, 12 May 2026 (UTC)