Word.ws English Dictionary

backhoe

/ˈbæk.həʊ/

backhoe noun: a piece of excavating equipment, either an integral subassembly or an attachment, consisting of a digging bucket or scoop on the end of an articulated arm, drawn backwards to move earth; used in excavator/digger and backhoe tractors. Also the ellipsis of backhoe tractor.

backhoe: a piece of excavating equipment, either an integral subassembly or an attachment, consisting of a...
Image: Zdzislawdyrman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

backhoe (plural backhoes)

  1. A piece of excavating equipment, either an integral subassembly or an attachment, consisting of a digging bucket or scoop on the end of an articulated arm, drawn backwards to move earth; used in excavator/digger and backhoe tractors.

Verb

backhoe (third-person singular simple present backhoes, present participle backhoeing, simple past and past participle backhoed)

  1. To excavate using such equipment.

Also used as

backhoe is also the ellipsis of backhoe tractor.

backhoe is also the ellipsis of backhoe loader.

backhoe meaning in Arabic, Malay, Indonesian and Thai

backhoe in Arabic

a multi-purpose tractor
عقرب

backhoe in Malay

a multi-purpose tractor
pengorek-kaut

backhoe in Indonesian

a piece of excavating equipment
beko, bego, bakhu
a multi-purpose tractor
beko, bego

backhoe in Thai

a piece of excavating equipment
แบ็กโฮ, รถแบ็กโฮ

Synonyms of backhoe

Forms of backhoe

Noun
pluralbackhoes
Verb
third-person singular presentbackhoes
present participlebackhoeing
past participlebackhoed
pastbackhoed

Origin of backhoe

From back + hoe.

Words formed from backhoe

Questions about backhoe

What does backhoe mean?
Backhoe means a piece of excavating equipment, either an integral subassembly or an attachment, consisting of a digging bucket or scoop on the end of an articulated arm, drawn backwards to move earth; used in excavator/digger and backhoe tractors.
What is backhoe in Arabic?
Backhoe in Arabic is عقرب. See Backhoe meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is backhoe?
Backhoe can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce backhoe?
Backhoe is pronounced /ˈbæk.həʊ/.
What is the plural of backhoe?
The plural of backhoe is backhoes.

Words near backhoe in the dictionary

  1. backheeled
  2. backheeler
  3. backheelers
  4. backheeling
  5. backheels
  6. backhoe
  7. backhoe loader
  8. backhoed
  9. backhoeing
  10. backhoes
  11. backhouse

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backhoe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 backhoe.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-backhoe.wav.

Cite this entry: “backhoe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backhoe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.