travois

Syllables: tra·vois/tɹəˈvɔɪ/

travois noun: a frame, often consisting of two poles tied together at one end to form a V-shaped structure with the vertex attached to a dog, horse, etc., or held by a person and the other ends touching the ground, which was used by indigenous peoples (notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America) to drag loads over land.

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Noun

travois (plural travoises or travois)

(US, historical) A frame, often consisting of two poles tied together at one end to form a V-shaped structure with the vertex attached to a dog, horse, etc., or held by a person and the other ends touching the ground, which was used by indigenous peoples (notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America) to drag loads over land.
- On the plains they will have horses dragging travoises, dogs with travoises, women and children loaded with impedimenta, […]1892, Julian Ralph, “‘Talking Musquash’: Concluding the Sketch of the History and Work of the Hudson Bay Company”, in On Canada’s Frontier […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages...
- Even the dogs worked then, pulling small burdens on travois of sticks.1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 174
(broadly) A similar piece of equipment used to transport something by dragging; especially a stretcher dragged by a horse, mule, etc., used to transport an ill or injured person.
(Canada, US, broadly, dated) A sled dragged by a horse or ox to transport logs, with one end of each log on the sled and the other end touching the ground.

Verb

travois (third-person singular simple present travoises, present participle travoising, simple past and past participle travoised)

(broadly, transitive) To transport (someone or something) by means of a travois.
- At White Sands, we found drag-marks made by the ends of wooden poles while excavating for fossil footprints. Sometimes these appear as just one trace, while at other times they occur as two parallel, equidistant traces. A pole or poles used in this fashion is called a travois. . . To help interpret...2025, Matthew Robert Bennett, Sally Christine Reynolds, Fossil footprints reveal what may be the oldest known handcarts
(intransitive, rare) To use a travois to transport a load.

Examples of travois in a sentence

Riding out for wood he watched his shadow and the shadow of the horse and travois cross those palings tree by tree.1994, Cormac McCarthy, chapter I, in The Crossing (The Border Trilogy; 2), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 5:
A pole or poles used in this fashion is called a travois. . .2025, Matthew Robert Bennett, Sally Christine Reynolds, Fossil footprints reveal what may be the oldest known handcarts:

Forms of travois

Noun
plural	travoises
plural	travois
alternative form	travail
alternative form	travoise
alternative form	travoy
Verb
third-person singular present	travoises
present participle	travoising
past participle	travoised
past	travoised

Origin of travois

PIE word *tréyes The noun is derived from Michif travawy (IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /tɹæˈvɔɪ/), from Canadian French travail (“travois”), from French travail, from Middle French travail, from Old French travail (“frame for restraining horses and cattle for medical treatment or shoeing”), from Late Latin tripālium (“torture device consisting of three stakes”), from Latin tripālis (“having, or propped up by, three pales or stakes”) (from tri- (prefix meaning ‘three’) + pālus (“pale, stake”)) + -ium (suffix forming nouns). Doublet of travel and travail. The spelling travois and pronunciations /ˈtɹævwɑ(ː)/, /tɹævˈwɑ/ are probably influenced by French -ois (suffix forming adjectives relating to particular countries, regions, or cities, their associated inhabitant names, and the local languages or dialects). The verb is derived from the noun.

Words that rhyme with travois

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about travois

What does travois mean?: Travois means a frame, often consisting of two poles tied together at one end to form a V-shaped structure with the vertex attached to a dog, horse, etc., or held by a person and the other ends touching the ground, which was used by indigenous peoples (notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America) to drag loads over land.
How do you use travois in a sentence?: Riding out for wood he watched his shadow and the shadow of the horse and travois cross those palings tree by tree.
What part of speech is travois?: Travois can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce travois?: Travois is pronounced /tɹəˈvɔɪ/.
What is the plural of travois?: The plural of travois is travoises.

Words near travois in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: travois (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-travois.wav.

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