Meaning

noun a small two-wheeled cart for one passenger; pulled by one person

originEtymology tree Middle Chinese 人力 Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos Proto-Tocharian *kuk(ä)lebor.? Middle Chinese 車 Japanese 人力車clip. Japanese 力車bor. English rickshaw Borrowed from Japanese 力(りき)車(しゃ) (rikisha), a clipping of 人(じん)力(りき)車(しゃ) (jinrikisha), from Middle Chinese 人力 (nyin lik, “human power”) + 車 (t͡ʃʰæ, “cart”) (compare Mandarin 人力車 /人力车 (rénlìchē)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0