escalator

English

Escalators

Escalators

Etymology

From the former trademark Escalator, created by American inventor Charles Seeberger in 1900, from Latin e (“from, out of”) + scala (“ladder”) + -tor, which forms nouns of agency. See the appendix. Broader usage may be influenced by escalate, and is equivalent to escalate +‎ -or. For an alternative etymology, see the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: esʹkə-lā-tər, IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/
• Hyphenation: es‧ca‧la‧tor
• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

escalator (plural escalators)

1. Anything that escalates.
   • 2006, Dudley D. Cahn, Ruth Anna Abigail, Managing Conflict Through Communication, page xiv:

     Fourth, communication researchers study the role of stress and negative attitudes as key contributors to conflict, anger as an escalator of conflict, and emotional residues as barriers to reconciliation.

2. A motor-driven mechanical device consisting of a continuous loop of steps that automatically conveys people from one floor to another.

   There is a plastic molly-guard covering the escalator's shutdown button to prevent little kids from pushing it and stopping the escalator.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page xiv-xv, Preface:

     I found the Tube trains morbidly fascinating, I had a simpler enthusiasm for the escalators. Everyone likes going on escalators as far as I know. It feels like a free ride, and the longer they are, the better. The only escalator in York was at Marks & Spencer's, and people would hesitate for ages before getting on, apparently waiting for the right stair to come rolling along, whereas Londoners would step on while reading a newspaper.

   • 2021 June 30, Tim Dunn, “How we made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in RAIL, number 934, page 51:

     Episode Guide: [...] Episode 1 (July 13): Exploration of both ends of the abandoned branch between Holborn and Aldwych, including an interview with the driver of the last train. And a trip to Holloway Road to find out about the Tube's only spiral escalator. [This escalator never entered service]

3. An upward or progressive course.
   • 2009 February 19, Froma Harrop, “Housing aid may revive American dream for Latinos”, in Houston Chronicle:

     Lots of people fell for the pitch that real estate was an up-only escalator into the American Dream

4. An escalator clause.

   They agreed to a cost-of-living escalator.

Derived terms

• escalator barrel
• escalator clause
• escalator school

Related terms

• escalate

Translations

mechanical device

• Afrikaans: roltrap (af)
• Albanian: shkallë lëvizëse f
• Arabic: دَرَج مُتَحَرِّك m (daraj mutaḥarrik), سُلَّم مُتَحَرِّك m (sullam mutaḥarrik), سُلَّم دَوَّار m (sullam dawwār)
• Armenian: շարժասանդուղք (hy) (šaržasanduġkʻ)
• Azerbaijani: eskalator
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: эскала́тар m (eskalátar)
• Bengali: এস্কেলেটর (eskeleṭor)
• Bulgarian: ескала́тор m (eskalátor)
• Burmese: စက်လှေကား (cakhleka:)
• Catalan: escala mecànica (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 扶手電梯／扶手电梯 (fu⁴ sau² din⁶ tai¹), 電梯／电梯 (din⁶ tai¹)

  Mandarin: 自動扶梯／自动扶梯 (zh) (zìdòngfútī), 自動電梯／自动电梯 (zìdòngdiàntī), 自動樓梯／自动楼梯 (zh) (zìdònglóutī), 自動鏈梯／自动链梯 (zìdòngliàntī), 升降階梯 (shēngjiàngjiētī)

• Crimean Tatar: eskalator
• Czech: eskalátor m, pohyblivé schodiště n, pohyblivé schody pl, jezdicí schody pl, pojízdné schody m pl
• Danish: rulletrappe c
• Dutch: roltrap (nl) m
• Esperanto: eskalatoro (eo), rulŝtuparo (eo)
• Estonian: eskalaator
• Faroese: rullutrappa f
• Finnish: liukuportaat (fi) pl, liukuportaikko, rullaportaat (fi) pl
• French: escalator (fr) m, escalier mécanique (fr) m, escalateur (fr) m
• Georgian: ესკალატორი (esḳalaṭori)
• German: Rolltreppe (de) f, Fahrtreppe f
• Greek: κυλιόμενες σκάλες f pl (kyliómenes skáles)
• Hebrew: דְּרַגְנוֹעַ (he) m (dragnóa)
• Hindi: एस्केलेटर m (eskeleṭar), चलसोपान (calsopān), चलती सीढ़ी (caltī sīṛhī)
• Hungarian: mozgólépcső (hu)
• Icelandic: rúllustigi m
• Ido: eskalatoro (io)
• Indonesian: tangga berjalan (id), eskalator (id)
• Irish: staighre beo m
• Italian: scala mobile (it)
• Japanese: エスカレーター (ja) (esukarētā)
• Kazakh: эскалатор (éskalator)
• Khmer: ជណ្ដើរយោង (cŭəndaə yoong)
• Korean: 에스컬레이터 (ko) (eseukeolleiteo), 자동계단(自動階段) (ko) (jadonggyedan) (North Korea), 계단승강기(階段昇降機) (ko) (gyedanseungganggi) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: эскалатор (ky) (eskalator)
• Lao: ຂັ້ນໃດເລື່ອນ (khan dai lư̄an), ຂັ້ນໄດໄຟຟ້າ (khan dai fai fā)
• Latvian: eskalators m
• Lithuanian: eskalatorius m
• Lushootseed: lədᶻək̓ʷ səxʷʔigʷəɬ
• Macedonian: ескала́тор m (eskalátor)
• Malay: tangga elektrik, tangga gerak, eskalator
• Maori: ara maiangi, ēkareta (Borrowing from English)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: урсдаг шат (ursdag šat)

• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: escalateux m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rulletrapp (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: rulletrapp f

• Persian:

  Dari: پِلَّه‌بَرْقِی (pilla-barqī), زِینَهٔ بَرْقِی (zīna-yi barqī)

  Iranian Persian: پِلِّه‌بَرْقی (pelle-barği)

• Plautdietsch: Rolltrap f
• Polish: ruchome schody (pl) pl, eskalator (pl) m, schody ruchome (pl)
• Portuguese: escada rolante (pt)
• Romanian: scară rulantă (ro) f
• Russian: эскала́тор (ru) m (eskalátor)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: еска̀ла̄тор m

  Roman: eskàlātor (sh) m

• Slovak: eskalátor m, pohyblivé schody pl
• Slovene: tekoče stopnice f pl
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: běžeca stupnica f

• Spanish: escalera mecánica (es) f
• Swedish: rulltrappa (sv) c
• Tagalog: sigdan
• Tajik: эскалатор (eskalator)
• Thai: บันไดเลื่อน (th) (ban-dai-lʉ̂ʉan)
• Tibetan: གློག་འགུལ་སྐས་འཛེག (glog 'gul skas 'dzeg)
• Turkish: yürüyen merdiven (tr)
• Turkmen: eskalator
• Ukrainian: ескала́тор m (eskalátor)
• Urdu: ایسْکِلیٹَر m (eskileṭar)
• Uzbek: eskalator (uz)
• Vietnamese: thang cuốn (vi)
• Volapük: rolatridem
• Welsh: esgaladur m
• Yiddish: עסקאַלאַטאָר m (eskalator)

Verb

escalator (third-person singular simple present escalators, present participle escalatoring, simple past and past participle escalatored)

1. (intransitive, informal) To move by escalator.

   Synonym: (rare) escalate

   We escalatored to the second floor.

See also

• movator
• moving pavement, moving sidewalk
• moving ramp
• moving walkway
• stairway
• step
• travelator

Further reading

• escalator on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:escalators on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• acetarsol, crotalase

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English. Genericized trademark.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs.ka.la.tɔʁ/

Noun

escalator m (plural escalators)

1. escalator

   Synonyms: escalier roulant, escalier mécanique

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French escalator.

Noun

escalator n (plural escalatoare)

1. escalator

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	escalator	escalatorul		escalatoare	escalatoarele
genitive-dative	escalator	escalatorului		escalatoare	escalatoarelor
vocative	escalatorule			escalatoarelor