name · noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
/ˌwiːl‿əv ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/
/ˌʍiːl-/wine–whine merger
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˌwil‿əv ˈfoɹt͡ʃun/
General-American:/-t͡ʃən/
General-American:/ˌʍil-/wine–whine merger
rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)t͡ʃuːn
rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)tʃən
1
name
Meaning 1
The mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate, fortune, and luck, to determine people's fortunes which were thus unpredictable.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: rota Fortunae, wheel, Wheel of Providence
Antonyms: none provided
2
name
Meaning 2
Synonym of Big Six wheel (“a game of chance consisting of a vertically mounted wheel divided into equal marked sectors; the winning sector is the one indicated by a pointer when the wheel stops turning”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
Topics: gambling, games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Big Six wheel
Antonyms: none provided
3
name
Meaning 3
A tarot card with an image of Fortuna's wheel (sense 1), generally the tenth of 22 trumps of the major arcana in most tarot decks.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
name
Meaning 4
Alternative letter-case form of Wheel of Fortune (“the mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate, fortune, and luck, to determine people's fortunes which were thus unpredictable”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
A gambling or lottery device consisting of a wheel which is spun horizontally to determine, by its stopping position, whether a gambler will receive one of the prizes marked around its circumference.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: gambling, games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From wheel + of + Fortune (“the Roman goddess Fortuna”), a calque of Latin rota Fortūnae (literally “Fortuna’s wheel”), from rota (“wheel”) + Fortūnae (the genitive dative singular of Fortūna (“the Roman goddess of fate, fortune, and luck”)).
From Wheel of Fortune, referring to the spinning of the Roman goddess Fortuna’s wheel which determined people’s fortunes.
Across languages
Translations
54 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
عجلة الحظ
— mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna
Catalan:
Roda de la Fortuna
— mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna
Esperanto:
Rado de Fortuno
— mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna
Finnish:
kohtalonpyörä
— mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna
French:
Rota Fortunae
— mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna
French:
roue de la Fortune
— mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna
