A wagon (also alternatively and archaically spelt waggon in British and Commonwealth English) is a heavy four -wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans (see below), used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are immediately distinguished from carts (which have two wheels) and from lighter four -wheeled vehicles primarily for carrying people, such as carriages. Wagons are usually pulled by animals such as horses, mules or oxen. They may be pulled by oneanimal or by several, often in pairs or teams. However, there are examples of human -propelled wagons, such as mining corfs.
A wagon was formerly called a wain and one who builds or repairs wagons is a wainwright. More specifically, a wain is a type of horse- or oxen-drawn, load-carrying vehicle, used for agricultural purposes rather than transporting people. A wagon or cart, usually four -wheeled; for example, a haywain, normally has four wheels, but the term has now acquired slightly poetical connotations, so is not always used with technical correctness. However, a two-wheeled "haywain" would be a hay cart, as opposed to a carriage. Wain is also an archaic term for a chariot.
