pedal

See also: pédal, pedál, Pedal, and pedał

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French pédale, Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• (noun, verb) enPR: pĕdʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈpɛdəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (adjective) enPR: pēdʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈpiːdəl/ or as the noun

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdəl, -iːdəl
• Homophones: peddle, petal (some dialects)

Noun

pedal (plural pedals)

1. A lever operated by one's foot that is used to control or power a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano

   There are three pedals on manual cars, two on automatics.

   A piano usually has two or three pedals.

   the pedal of a loom

2. (medicine) an orthopedic structure or a footlike part.
3. (music) An effects unit, especially one designed to be activated by being stepped on.
4. (equestrianism, humorous) A stirrup.
5. (music) The ranks of pipes played from the pedal-board of an organ.

   A small organ commonly has only one or two ranks on the pedal.

Derived terms

• back-pedal
• backpedal
• back pedal brake
• brake pedal
• clutch pedal
• combination pedal
• gas pedal
• go pedal
• loop pedal
• pedal bin
• pedal bone
• pedal car
• pedal curve
• pedal cycle
• pedal cyclist
• pedal keyboard
• pedal note
• pedal point
• pedal pusher
• pedal pushers
• pedal squares
• pedal steel
• pedal steel guitar
• pedal steel guitarist
• pedal stool
• pedal-stool
• pedal stroke
• pedal to the metal
• put pedal to the metal
• put the pedal to the metal
• soft-pedal
• soft-pedal, soft pedal
• sostenuto pedal
• sustaining pedal
• una corda pedal
• wah pedal
• wah-wah pedal

 

Translations

lever operated by one’s foot

• Afrikaans: pedaal
• Albanian: pedal m
• Arabic: دَوَّاسَة f (dawwāsa)
• Armenian: պեդալ (hy) (pedal), ոտնակ (hy) (otnak)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܕܵܘܣܵܐ m (dāwsā)
• Azerbaijani: pedal
• Belarusian: педа́ль f (pjedálʹ), пэда́ль f (pedálʹ) (Taraškievica)
• Bengali: প্যাডেল (bn) (pêḍel)
• Bulgarian: педа́л m (pedál)
• Burmese: ခြေနင်း (my) (hkrenang:)
• Catalan: pedal (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 踏板 (zh) (tàbǎn) (car), 腳蹬子／脚蹬子 (jiǎodēngzi) (bicycle), 腳蹬／脚蹬 (jiǎodēng)

• Czech: pedál (cs) m
• Danish: pedal c
• Dutch: pedaal (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: pedalo
• Estonian: pedaal
• Finnish: poljin (fi), (in instruments) pedaali (fi)
• French: pédale (fr) f
• Galician: pedal m
• Georgian: პედალი (ṗedali)
• German: Pedal (de) n, Fußhebel m
• Hebrew: פֵּדָל (he) m (pedál)
• Hindi: पेडल m (peḍal)
• Hungarian: pedál (hu)
• Icelandic: fótstig
• Ido: pedalo (io)
• Irish: troitheán (ga) m
• Italian: pedale (it) m
• Japanese: ペダル (pedaru)
• Kazakh: педаль (pedal)
• Khmer: ឈ្នាន់ (km) (chnŏən)
• Korean: 페달 (ko) (pedal)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: pedal (ku)

• Kyrgyz: педаль (pedal)
• Lao: ເຄື່ອງຖີບ (khư̄ang thīp)
• Latin: insilia n pl
• Latvian: pedālis m
• Lithuanian: pedalas m
• Macedonian: педа́ла f (pedála)
• Malay: rakap, pedal
• Manx: coshal
• Maori: takahi
• Mongolian: дөрөө (mn) (döröö), гишгүүр (mn) (gišgüür)
• Norman: pédale f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pedal (no) m

  Nynorsk: pedal m

• Pashto: پایډل m (pāyḍál), پيډل m (payḍál)
• Persian: رکاب (fa) (rekâb), پدال (fa) (pedâl)
• Polish: pedał (pl) m
• Portuguese: pedal (pt) m
• Romanian: pedală (ro) f
• Russian: педа́ль (ru) f (pedálʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: casachan f, troighean m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: педа́ла f

  Roman: pedála (sh) f

• Slovak: pedál m
• Slovene: pedal m
• Spanish: pedal (es) m
• Swedish: pedal (sv) c, trampa (sv) c
• Tajik: педал (pedal)
• Thai: คันเหยียบ (kan-yìiap)
• Tibetan: རྐང་རྟེན (rkang rten)
• Tooro: ekigere class 7
• Turkish: pedal (tr), ayaklık (tr)
• Turkmen: pedal
• Ukrainian: педа́ль f (pedálʹ)
• Urdu: پیڈل m (peḍal)
• Uzbek: pedal (uz)
• Vietnamese: bàn đạp (vi)
• Vilamovian: pedaoł m
• Welsh: pedal m

Verb

pedal (third-person singular simple present pedals, present participle (UK) pedalling or (US) pedaling, simple past and past participle (UK) pedalled or (US) pedaled)

1. To operate a pedal attached to a wheel in a continuous circular motion.

   to pedal one's loom

2. To operate a bicycle.

   He was out of breath from pedalling up the steep hill.

Translations

to operate a pedal

• Catalan: pedalejar (ca), pedalar (ca)
• Dutch: trappen (nl)
• Esperanto: pedali
• Finnish: polkea (fi)
• French: pédaler (fr)
• Galician: pedalear (gl)
• German: pedalieren (de), in die Pedale treten
• Ido: pedalagar (io)
• Irish: troitheánaigh
• Italian: pedalare (it)
• Macedonian: педали́ра (pedalíra)
• Polish: pedałować (pl)
• Portuguese: pedalar (pt)
• Romanian: pedala (ro)
• Russian: педали́ровать (ru) impf (pedalírovatʹ)
• Spanish: pedalear (es)
• Swedish: trampa (sv)
• Ukrainian: педалюва́ти impf (pedaljuváty), педалізува́ти impf or pf (pedalizuváty)
• Vietnamese: đạp (vi)

Adjective

pedal (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to the foot.

Coordinate terms

• manual, relating to the hand

Translations

of or relating to the foot

• Arabic: قَدَمِيّ (qadamiyy)
• Belarusian: нажны́ (nažný)
• Bulgarian: но́жен (nóžen)
• Czech: nožní (cs)
• French: pédal (fr)
• German: Fuß- (de)
• Macedonian: ножен (nožen)
• Polish: nożny (pl)
• Portuguese: podal, pedal (pt)
• Russian: ножно́й (ru) (nožnój)
• Ukrainian: но́жний (nóžnyj)

References

• “pedal”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pedal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• padel, padle, paled, plead

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pəˈðal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [peˈðal]

Noun

pedal m (plural pedals)

1. pedal (lever operated by one’s foot)

Derived terms

• pedalar
• pedalejar

Further reading

• “pedal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish pedal (“pedal”).

Noun

pedal

1. pedal

Galician

Etymology

From Latin pedalis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [peˈðal]

Noun

pedal m (plural pedais)

1. pedal

   Synonym: pegueira

References

• “pedal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “pedal” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “pedal” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin pedalis.

Noun

pedal m (definite singular pedalen, indefinite plural pedaler, definite plural pedalene)

1. a pedal

Derived terms

• bremsepedal
• gasspedal

References

• “pedal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin pedalis.

Noun

pedal m (definite singular pedalen, indefinite plural pedalar, definite plural pedalane)

1. a pedal

Derived terms

• bremsepedal
• gasspedal

References

• “pedal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /peˈdaw/ [peˈdaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨˈdal/ [pɨˈðaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨˈdal/ [pɨˈðaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨˈda.li/ [pɨˈða.li]

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: pe‧dal

Noun

pedal m (plural pedais)

1. pedal (lever operated by one’s foot)

Derived terms

• pedalar

Related terms

• pé

Adjective

pedal m or f (plural pedais, not comparable)

1. Synonym of podal

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈdal/ [peˈð̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pe‧dal

Noun

pedal m (plural pedales)

1. pedal (lever operated by one’s foot)
2. (colloquial) drunkenness

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:borrachera

Derived terms

• pedalear
• pedalero

 

Further reading

• “pedal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Noun

pedal c

1. pedal; a lever operated by one's foot that is used to control a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano

Declension

Declension of pedal
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	pedal	pedalen	pedaler	pedalerna
Genitive	pedals	pedalens	pedalers	pedalernas

Derived terms

• bromspedal
• cykelpedal
• distpedal
• effektpedal
• fortepedal
• gaspedal
• kopplingspedal
• pianopedal

 

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• pidal — sense 1 only

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish pedal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈdal/, [pɛˈdal]
• Hyphenation: pe‧dal

Noun

pedál (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜒᜇᜎ᜔)

1. pedal (foot lever)
2. (music) pedal; effects unit

Related terms

• magpedal
• pumedal

Further reading

• “pedal”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018