Does 車輪 really mean tire as well as (vehicle)wheel?


JMdict defines it as

> (vehicle) wheel

And nothing else.

But Wanikani uses it to mean tire in two out of three example sentences.

> バイクの車輪が外れてしまいました。
>
> My motorcycle's tire came off.
>
> 今日、ちょっと自転車貸してもらえないかな？今、車輪を取り替えてもらっているので、自分のが無いんだよね。
>
> Could I borrow your bike today? I don’t have mine right now because I’m
> having a tire replaced.

No machine translator I tried (google, deepl, chatgpt) translates any of those
as tire.

If it does mean tire, how can I tell which is meant? Is there any way other
than using context and reasoning to guess?




I think Wanikani is being colloquial and a little loose in its translation.
Whether that's forgivable, or an inexcusable meaning error, really depends on
your use case for the translation.

Reading the Japanese, my impression is that the entire wheel -- hub, spokes,
rim, tire, and all -- has come off the motorbike.

If we look at monolingual JA resources, such as the 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ) entry over
[here on Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%BB%8A%E8%BC%AA-76399), we see
that their description more closely matches Merriam-Webster's -- the round,
structural part that includes the rim and spokes and hub, and that attaches to
the axle. The tire is the part that goes around the outside of the rim of the
wheel.

> If it (車輪【しゃりん】) does mean tire, how can I tell which is meant? Is there any
> way other than using context and reasoning to guess?

I'd say that 車輪【しゃりん】 means "tire" about as much as the English terms _wheel_
and _tire_ are (or are not) interchangeable. I know some native-English-
speakers who use these loosely, and I suspect that is what we see in
Wanikani's examples.

In other words, 車輪【しゃりん】 means "wheel" (the structural round thing with the
rim, spokes, and hub). Strictly speaking, this does not include the "tire"
(the part around the outside of the rim, often made of rubber). That said,
depending on the speaker and the context, I suppose it's possible that
車輪【しゃりん】 might include the "tire". I don't think 車輪【しゃりん】 can ever refer to
_just_ the "tire", excluding the structural "wheel".




I think Wanikani is being colloquial and a little loose in its translation.
Whether that's forgivable, or an inexcusable meaning error, really depends on
your use case for the translation.

Reading the Japanese, my impression is that the entire wheel -- hub, spokes,
rim, tire, and all -- has come off the motorbike.

If we look at monolingual JA resources, such as the 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ) entry over
[here on Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%BB%8A%E8%BC%AA-76399), we see
that their description more closely matches Merriam-Webster's -- the round,
structural part that includes the rim and spokes and hub, and that attaches to
the axle. The tire is the part that goes around the outside of the rim of the
wheel.

> If it (車輪【しゃりん】) does mean tire, how can I tell which is meant? Is there any
> way other than using context and reasoning to guess?

I'd say that 車輪【しゃりん】 means "tire" about as much as the English terms _wheel_
and _tire_ are (or are not) interchangeable. I know some native-English-
speakers who use these loosely, and I suspect that is what we see in
Wanikani's examples.

In other words, 車輪【しゃりん】 means "wheel" (the structural round thing with the
rim, spokes, and hub). Strictly speaking, this does not include the "tire"
(the part around the outside of the rim, often made of rubber). That said,
depending on the speaker and the context, I suppose it's possible that
車輪【しゃりん】 might include the "tire". I don't think 車輪【しゃりん】 can ever refer to
_just_ the "tire", excluding the structural "wheel".

