Well technically anything can be a shuttle because specifically the thing that makes it a shuttle is the operating pattern (repeated point to point service) rather than the machine itself.
Etymology-wise a shuttle was a type of weaving tool which is why the verb shuttle exists, i.e. to rapidly move back and forth across a length (as if you were weaving a thread into a piece of fabric).
So then you got shuttle trains which frequently ran back and forth. And from there other types of shuttle services (shuttle buses, shuttle vans, etc).
And of course eventually the space shuttle being intended to be a launch vehicle designed for shuttle service to and from orbit. (side note but technically if the SpaceX Starship actually achieves it's intended sub-24h turn around it'd be able to qualify as a shuttle provided it ran a fixed point to point route on a regular basis).