Etymology

A relationship with Chinese 軲轆／轱辘 (gūlu, “wheel”) was proposed in Bauer (1994), and both were hypothesised to have been derived from a common Sino-Tibetan word, borrowed from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos ‎(“wheel”).

Pronunciation

• Old Tibetan:
  • IPA^(key): /*ᵑkʰor.lo/ (reconstructed)
• Ü-Tsang
  • Tibetan Pinyin: ko^f-lo^f
  • (Lhasa) IPA^(key): /kʰo˥˥.lo˥˥/