The word 'travois' entered English in the early 19th century from Canadian French travail, used to describe this specific vehicle. The French term was a borrowing, likely from an Algonquian language such as Ojibwe or Cree, where a related word meant a device for dragging loads. The French travail (meaning "work" or "labor") coincidentally mirrored the function of the object, but the term's primary origin is Indigenous. The English spelling was altered to approximate the French pronunciation, resulting in the distinct form 'travois'. It remains a specific cultural term for a historical transportation technology.

This word is a loanword from Canadian French, which itself adapted it from a North American Indigenous language (likely Ojibwe or Cree). It is not productively formed from classical morphemes within English and therefore cannot be segmented.