A cabriolet is a light horse-drawn vehicle, with two wheels and a single horse. The carriage has a folding hood that can cover its two occupants, one of whom is the driver. It has a large rigid apron, gracefully upward-curving shafts, and usually a rear platform between the C springs for a groom. The design was developed in France in the eighteenth century and quickly replaced the heavier hackney carriage as the vehicle for hire of choice in Paris and London.
The cab of taxi-cab or "hansom cab" is a shortening of cabriolet.
Other horse-drawn cabs include:
- Araba or aroba: used in Turkey and neighboring countries
- Araña: Mexican, two-wheeled
- Bounder: four-wheeled
- Gharry or gharri: used especially in India
- Kalesa or calesa (sometimes called a karitela): used in the Philippines
- Minibus: light carriage, usually with a rear door and seats for four passengers; formerly used as a cab
- Two-wheeler: two-wheeled cab or hansom
One who drives a horse-drawn cab for hire is a cabdriver or jehu. A cab horse or cabber draws a cab.