bike

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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  Rhymes: -aɪk

Etymology 1

From bicycle, by shortening, and possibly alteration.

One explanation for the pronunciation is that bicycle is parsed to bi(cy)c(le). An alternative explanation is that bicycle is shortened to bic(ycle), and the terminal [s] is converted to a [k] because there is an underlying underspecified [k]/[s] sound, which is softened to [s] in bicycle but retained as [k] in bike; compare the letter ‘c’ (used for [k]/[s]).

Noun

bike (plural bikes)

1. A short form of bicycle.
2. A short form of motorcycle.
3. (slang) A promiscuous woman; from “the town bike (everybody rides her)”.

Synonyms

• (motorcycle): motorbike
• (woman): slapper (British), slag (British)

Derived terms

• (bicycle) dirt bike; like riding a bike; mountain bike; road bike
• (motorcycle) biker; bikey or bikie (Australia); quad bike
• (woman) town bike

Translations

bicycle

Armenian: հեծանիվ (hy) (heçaniv), (colloquial) հեծո (hy) (heço) Basque: bizikleta (eu) Czech: kolo (cs) n. Dutch: fiets m., velo m. (slang, Belgium) Finnish: pyörä (fi), polkupyörä (fi) French: vélo (fr) m. German: Fahrrad n., Rad n., Velo n. (Switzerland, colloquial) Drahtesel Hungarian: bicaj (slang), bicó (slang), bringa (slang) Indonesian: sepeda (id) Italian: bici (slang) f. Japanese: 自転車 (じてんしゃ, jitensha), チャリンコ (charinko, slang) Lithuanian: dviratis (lt) m. Norwegian: sykkel (no) m. Persian: دوچرخه (fa)

Polish: rower (pl) m. Portuguese: bicicleta (pt) f. Romanian: bicicletă (ro) f. Russian: велосипед (ru) (velosipéd), (colloquial) велик (ru) (vélik) Scottish Gaelic: baic (gd) m., bàic (gd) m. Slovak: bicykel m. Slovene: kolo (sl) n. Spanish: bici (es) f. Swedish: cykel (sv) c. Welsh: beic (cy) m. West Frisian: fyts Yiddish: ביציקל (yi) (bitsíkl) m., ראָווער (yi) (róver) m., וועלאָסיפּעד (yi) (velosipéd) m., ביציקלעט (yi) (bitsiklét) m.

motorcycle

Armenian: մոտոցիկլետ (hy) (motoc’iklet), (colloquial) մոտո (hy) (moto) Czech: motorka (cs) f. Finnish: moottoripyörä (fi) French: moto (fr) f. German: Motorrad (de) n. Hungarian: motor, motorkerékpár, moci (slang) Indonesian: sepeda motor (id) Italian: moto (it) f. Japanese: バイク (ja) (baiku) Norwegian: motorsykkel (no) m.

Polish: motocykl (pl) m. Portuguese: mota (pt) f., motocicleta (pt) f. (archaism) Russian: мотоцикл (ru) (motoc’íkl) m. Scottish Gaelic: bàic (gd) m. Slovak: motorka (sk) f. Slovene: motorno kolo n. Spanish: moto (es) f. Swedish: mc (sv) c., MC (sv) c., motorcykel (sv) c., båge (sv) c. (slang) Welsh: beic modur (cy) m.

promiscuous woman

French: pute (fr) f., traînée  (fr) f. Italian: puttana (it) f. Mandarin: 公交车 (Lit：Bus) (cmn) (gong1 jiao1 che1)

Portuguese: puta (pt) f.; (figurative sense: vaca (pt) f., cabra (pt) f.) Slovak: cundra f. Welsh: hwren f.

See also

• trike

Verb

bike (third-person singular simple present bikes, present participle biking, simple past and past participle biked)

1. To ride a bike.

   I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today.

2. To travel by bike.

   It was such a nice day I decided to bike to the store, though it's far enough I usually take my car.

Etymology 2

From Middle English

Noun

bike (plural bikes)

1. (northern UK) A nest of wild bees, wasps or ants.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir W. Scott to this entry?)

Anagrams

• Beki
• kibe

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Basque

Etymology

Latin pix

Noun

bike

1. pitch

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Italian

Etymology

English

Noun

bike f. inv.

1. motorbike, motorcycle

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Kurdish

Verb

bike

1. Third-person singular future of kirin.