Gurney

How to spell gurney

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce gurney

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gurney mean?

1. nounA wheeled stretcher or trolley used to transport patients in a hospital or ambulance.

Gurney in a sentence

• The paramedics lifted the injured cyclist onto the gurney.

• A nurse pushed the empty gurney down the corridor toward the operating theatre.

Where does gurney come from?

Language of origin: Other

Gurney is an American coinage from around the early twentieth century, and its exact origin is genuinely uncertain. The most widely repeated explanation is that it honours a surname: J. Theodore Gurney, an American inventor who patented a wheeled cab in the 1880s, or the Gurney Ball Bearing Company whose castors let such carts roll smoothly. From naming the wheeled conveyance the word narrowed to mean the wheeled stretcher or trolley used to move patients in hospitals and ambulances. The surname Gurney itself is of Norman French origin, traced to the place name Gournay in northern France. Because the documentary trail is thin and the eponym is not firmly proven, the safest verdict is that the word is of obscure origin; the doubled-vowel temptation in the spelling (people sometimes write 'gurnie' or 'gurny') is the main trap, so it helps to remember the plain '-ney' ending of the surname.

How the word is built

• gurney (a single root, probably an eponym from the surname Gurney; no prefix or suffix)