tyre [LME] In the past wheelwrights strengthened the outside of the wheels of carts with curved pieces of iron plate called the tire, probably a shortened form of attire (an ME word originally meaning to put in order), because the tyre was the ‘clothing’ of the wheel. Originally the spellings tire and tyre were interchangeable, but in the 17th century tire became the settled spelling, which has remained the spelling in the USA. In Britain the development of the pneumatic tyre seemed to require some differentiation from the metal rim, and tyre was revived.