Minecart

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small open vehicle on wheels that runs along metal tracks and is used to transport ore or coal from a mine
2. A low cart fitted with wheels that travels on fixed rails inside a mine to carry extracted minerals and rock
3. A wheeled container on tracks designed to haul mined materials such as ore, coal, or stone through underground passages

Etymology: A minecart is about as plain as compounds get: a "mine" plus a "cart", a wheeled vehicle built to haul material out of underground workings. The word simply names the cart by its place of use, the way a "coal scuttle" or "tramcar" does. The "mine" half traces back through Old French "mine" to a Celtic root meaning ore or metal, and the "cart" half is an older English word for a two- or four-wheeled vehicle pulled by animals or people. Put together, the compound describes exactly what it sounds like: a cart for the mine, and the sense has stayed fixed on that literal meaning ever since.

Synonyms: mine car, ore cart