bicycle

English

A bicycle

Etymology

Borrowed from French bicycle (modern bicyclette), from bi- (“bi-; two”) +‎ cycle (“cycle”). First attested in English in 1868, and in French in 1847.

(promiscuous woman): From double meaning of ride ("to transport oneself upon" vs. "to mount someone to have sex with them"). A communal bicycle would have many riders.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪsɪkl̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bi‧cy‧cle

Noun

bicycle (plural bicycles)

1. A vehicle that has two wheels, one behind the other, a steering handle, and a saddle seat or seats and is usually propelled by the action of a rider’s feet upon pedals.

   Synonyms: (clipping) bike, pushbike, (historical) velocipede; see also Thesaurus:bicycle

   Hypernym: cycle

   • 1882, “Principle in Small Things”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 22, page 274:

     In most English villages, as we are informed, bicycles are not allowed on the sidewalks; and the hand-books issued by English manufacturers of bicycles caution their customers that it is a forbidden practice, while in many places bells have to be attached to the bicycles even when ridden in the streets.

2. A traveling block used on a cable in skidding logs.
3. The best possible hand in lowball.
4. (British, Australia, New Zealand) A motorbike.
5. (vulgar slang, usually in compounds specifying a context) A slut; a promiscuous woman.
   • 2002, Minette Walters, Fox Evil, Macmillan, pages 162-3:

     ‘What sort of bullying does this sergeant go in for?’ ‘Character assassination,’ she said in a matter-of-fact tone that belied the very real difficulties it was causing her. ‘There’s a lot of whispering about slags and tarts behind my back and sniggers whenever I appear. Half of the men seem to think I’m a dyke who needs curing, the other half think I’m the platoon bicycle. [...]’

6. (climbing) This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Derived terms

• antibicycle
• autobicycle
• a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle
• balance bicycle
• bicyclable
• bicycle bridge
• bicycle carrier
• bicycle clip
• bicycle helmet
• bicycle Irish
• bicycle kick
• bicycle landing gear
• bicycle lane
• bicyclelike
• bicycle mail
• bicycle motocross
• bicycle path
• bicycle pump
• bicycler
• bicycle rack
• bicycle roundabout
• bicycle stand
• bicycle tire
• bicycle touring
• bicycle tourist
• bicycle wrench
• bicyclian
• bicyclism
• bicyclist
• exercise bicycle
• fixed-gear bicycle
• like riding a bicycle
• lowrider bicycle
• motorbicycle
• recumbent bicycle
• ride the cotton bicycle
• safety bicycle
• stationary bicycle
• tandem bicycle
• touring bicycle
• town bicycle
• village bicycle
• water bicycle

 

Related terms

• cycle
• motorcycle
• tricycle
• unicycle

 

Descendants

• → Burmese: ဘိုင်စကယ် (bhuingca.kai)
• → Papiamentu: baiskel
• Sranan Tongo: baisigri
• → Swahili: baiskeli
• → Urdu: بائیسکل

Translations

vehicle

• Afrikaans: fiets (af)
• Akan: basekre
• Albanian: biçikletë (sq) f
• Amharic: ብስክሌት (bəskəlet)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: iłkádilʼisí

• Arabic: دَرَّاجَة (ar) f (darrāja)

  Egyptian Arabic: عجلة f (ʿagala), بسكلتة f (beskleta)

  Gulf Arabic: قاري m (gāri)

  Hijazi Arabic: بسكليتة f (buskulēta)

  Moroccan Arabic: بشكليطة (bišklīṭa), بشكليطة (bšaklīṭa)

• Armenian: հեծանիվ (hy) (hecaniv)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܕܲܪܵܓ݂ܬܵܐ f (darrāḡtā), ܕܲܪܵܓ݂ܬܵܐ ܗܵܘܵܝܬܵܐ f (darrāḡtā hāwāytā), ܒܵܝܸܣܟܸܠ f (bāyiskil)
• Asturian: bicicleta (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: velosiped (az), dırığın (dialectal)
• Basque: txirrindu (eu), bizikleta (eu)
• Belarusian: ро́вар m (róvar), веласіпе́д m (vjelasipjéd)
• Bengali: ঠেংগাড়ী (ṭheṅgaṛi), সাইকেল (śaikel)
• Bouyei: danycey
• Breton: bisiklet (br) m, marc'h-houarn (br) m
• Bulgarian: колело́ (bg) n (koleló), велосипе́д (bg) m (velosipéd)
• Burmese: စက်ဘီး (my) (cakbhi:), ဘိုင်စကယ် (my) (bhuingca.kai)
• Catalan: bicicleta (ca) f
• Central Dusun: bosikol
• Central Melanau: basikal
• Cheyenne: amo'a'óvâhtsestôtse
• Chichewa: njinga
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 單車／单车 (yue) (daan¹ ce¹), 单车 (daan¹ ce¹), 腳車／脚车 (yue) (goek³ ce¹), 脚车 (goek³ ce¹), 自行車／自行车 (zi⁶ hang⁴ ce¹), 自行车 (zi⁶ hang⁴ ce¹), 腳踏車／脚踏车 (goek³ daap⁶ ce¹), 脚踏车 (goek³ daap⁶ ce¹)

  Dungan: чидичәзы (čidičəzɨ)

  Hakka: 自行車／自行车, 自行车 (chhṳ-hàng-chhâ), 腳踏車／脚踏车, 脚踏车 (kiok-tha̍p-chhâ), 自轉車／自转车, 自转车 (chhṳ-chón-chhâ)

  Mandarin: 自行車／自行车 (zh) (zìxíngchē), 自行车 (zh) (zìxíngchē), 腳踏車／脚踏车 (zh) (jiǎotàchē), 脚踏车 (zh) (jiǎotàchē) (Taiwan), 單車／单车 (zh) (dānchē), 单车 (zh) (dānchē) (regional), 鐵馬／铁马 (zh) (tiěmǎ), 铁马 (zh) (tiěmǎ) (Taiwan), 自由車／自由车 (zìyóuchē), 自由车 (zìyóuchē)

  Min Bei: 跤踏車／跤踏车 (káu-dā-chiá), 跤踏车 (káu-dā-chiá)

  Min Dong: 跤踏車／跤踏车 (kă-dăk-chiă), 跤踏车 (kă-dăk-chiă)

  Min Nan: 跤踏車／跤踏车 (zh-min-nan), 跤踏车 (kha-ta̍h-chhia), 孔明車／孔明车 (zh-min-nan), 孔明车 (khóng-bêng-chhia), 自轉車／自转车 (zh-min-nan), 自转车 (chū-choán-chhia), 鐵馬／铁马 (zh-min-nan), 铁马 (zh-min-nan) (thih-bé), 鐵馬仔／铁马仔, 铁马仔 (thih-bé-á), 自輪車／自轮车, 自轮车 (chū-lián-chhia), 動輪車／动轮车, 动轮车 (tōng-lián-chhia), 獨輪車／独轮车, 独轮车 (to̍k-lián-chhia), 單車／单车, 单车 (tan-chhia), 自行車／自行车, 自行车 (chū-hêng-chhia)

  Wu: 腳踏車／脚踏车, 脚踏车 (jiaq daq tsho), 自行車／自行车 (⁶zy-yin-tsho), 自行车 (zr hhin tsho)

• Cornish: deuros, dewros f
• Czech: kolo (cs) n, jizdní kolo n, bicykl (cs) m
• Danish: cykel (da) c
• Dhivehi: ބައިސްކަލު (baiskalu)
• Dutch: fiets (nl) m, rijwiel (nl) n (usually a bicycle)
• Erzya: кавточары (kavtočari)
• Esperanto: biciklo (eo)
• Estonian: jalgratas (et), ratas (colloquial)
• Ewe: gasɔ
• Farefare: kutuyeho, kut-weefo (dialectal), kutowefo
• Faroese: súkkla (fo) f
• Finnish: polkupyörä (fi), pyörä (fi), fillari (fi) (colloquial), velosipedi (fi) (obsolete)
• Flemish: velo (nl) m
• French: vélo (fr) m, bicyclette (fr) f, vélocipède (fr) m (dated)
• Galician: bicicleta (gl) f
• Georgian: ველოსიპედი (velosiṗedi), ველო (velo) (colloquial)
• German: Fahrrad (de) n, Velo (de) n (Switzerland), Drahtesel (de) m (colloquial), Veloziped (de) n (dated)

  Alemannic German: Welo n

• Greek: ποδήλατο (el) n (podílato)
• Gujarati: સાઇકલ (sāikal), પાયગાડી (pāyagāḍī)
• Hausa: basukur, keke
• Hebrew: אוֹפַנַּיִם (he) m pl (ofanáyim), זוּג אוֹפַנַּיִם m (zug ofanáyim)
• Hiligaynon: bisikleta
• Hindi: साइकिल (hi) f (sāikil), साइकल f (sāikal)
• Hungarian: kerékpár (hu), bicikli (hu)
• Iban: basikal
• Icelandic: reiðhjól (is) n
• Ido: biciklo (io)
• Indonesian: sepeda (id)
• Interlingua: bicyclo (ia), bicycletta
• Inupiaq: paisakuq
• Irish: rothar (ga) m
• Isan: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: bicicletta (it) f, bici (it) f (informal)
• Japanese: 自転車 (ja) (じてんしゃ, jitensha), (colloquial) チャリンコ (charinko), (abbreviation) チャリ (chari)
• Jarawa: taŋg
• Javanese: ꦱꦼꦥꦺꦝꦃ (sepédhah), ꦥꦶꦠ꧀ (pit)
• Kannada: ಸೈಕಲ್ (kn) (saikal), ಇಗ್ಗಾಲಿ (kn) (iggāli), ದ್ವಿಚಕ್ರ (dvicakra), ಕಾಲುಬಂಡಿ (kālubaṇḍi), ಕಾಲುಬಂಡಿ (kālubaṇḍi), ತುಳಿಬಂಡಿ (kn) (tuḷibaṇḍi), ಸೈಕಲ್ಲು (kn) (saikallu)
• Kashubian: kòło
• Kazakh: велосипед (kk) (velosiped)
• Khmer: កង់ (km) (kɑng), រទេះកង់ (rɔteh kɑng), ប៊ីស៊ីក្លេត (biisiikleet), ទោចក្រយាន (km) (toocakkrɑyiən)
• Kongo: dikâlu, kivyangu-vyangu
• Korean: 자전거(自轉車) (ko) (jajeon'geo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: duçerxe (ku)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: велосипед (ky) (velosiped), чалынгыч (calıngıc)
• Lao: ລົດຖີບ (lo) (lot thīp)
• Latin: birota f
• Latvian: velosipēds m, divritenis (lv) m
• Lingala: nkíngá
• Lithuanian: dviratis m
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: fietse

• Luxembourgish: Vëlo (lb) m
• Lü: ᦷᦟᧆᦂᦳᧂᦵᦦᧃ (lodk̇ungk̇wen), ᦷᦟᧆᦏᦲᧇᧈ (lodṫhiib¹)
• Macedonian: велосипе́д m (velosipéd), точак m (točak) (colloquial), бицикла f (bicikla) (colloquial)
• Malay: basikal (ms), kereta angin, sepeda (ms), pit
• Malayalam: സൈക്കിൾ (ml) (saikkiḷ)
• Maltese: rota (mt)
• Manx: daachiarkyl, daawheeyl
• Maori: paihikara
• Marathi: सायकल (sāykal)
• Mon: ကွဳလိုန်
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: унадаг дугуй (mn) (unadag duguj)

  Mongolian: ᠤᠨᠤᠳᠠᠭ
  ᠳᠤᠭᠤᠢ (unudag duɣui)

• Moore: kut weefo, keekee
• Nahuatl: omalacatl, omemalacatl (nah)
• Navajo: dziʼizí
• Nepali: साइकल (sāikal)
• Norman: bike f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sykkel (no) m

  Nynorsk: sykkel m

• Occitan: bicicleta (oc) f
• Oriya: ସାଇକେଲ (sāikela)
• Pali:

  Mon Pali: စက္ကယုဂံ (cakkayugaṃ)

• Pashto: جولا ګاډی m (ǰolã ǧāday), بايسکل (ps) m (bāyskél), سايکل m (sykál)
• Persian: دوچرخه (fa) (do-čarxe)
• Polish: rower (pl) m
• Portuguese: bicicleta (pt) f, baique f (informally)
• Punjabi: ਸਾਈਕਲ (pa) (sāīkal)
• Quechua: iskaymuyu, antapyu, lata wuru
• Romanian: bicicletă (ro) f, biclă f (colloquial)
• Romansch: velo m
• Russian: велосипе́д (ru) m (velosipéd), ве́лик (ru) m (vélik) (colloquial)
• Samogitian: dvėratis
• Sanskrit: द्विचक्रिका (dvicakrikā)
• Scottish Gaelic: baidhsagal m, rothair m, rothar dà-chuibhleach m, (colloquial) baic m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бицѝкл m

  Roman: bicìkl (sh) m

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Sindhi: سائيڪل
• Sinhalese: බයිසිකලය (bayisikalaya), පාපැදි (pāpædi)
• Slovak: bicykel (sk) m
• Slovene: kolo (sl) n
• Somali: baskiil m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kólaso n

  Upper Sorbian: koleso n

• Sotho: baesekele (st)
• Spanish: bicicleta (es) f, bici (es) f (informal)
• Swahili: baisikeli class 9/10, baiskeli (sw), baiskili
• Swedish: cykel (sv) c, tvåhjuling (sv) c
• Tagalog: bisikleta
• Tajik: дучарха (dučarxa)
• Talysh:

  Anbarani: دؤچرخه (dücarxa)

  Asalemi: دوچرخه (ducarxa)

• Tamil: மிதிவண்டி (ta) (mitivaṇṭi)
• Tatar: велосипед (welosiped)
• Telugu: సైకిలు (te) (saikilu)
• Thai: จักรยาน (th) (jàk-grà-yaan), รถถีบ (th) (rót-tìip)
• Tibetan: རྐང་འཁོར (rkang 'khor)
• Tigrinya: ብሽክለታ (bəškəläta)
• Tolai: aingau
• Turkish: bisiklet (tr), çalınga, velespit (tr), derrace (tr), düçerha
• Turkmen: welosiped
• Ukrainian: велосипе́д (uk) m (velosypéd), ро́вер m (róver) (rare)
• Urdu: سائیکل f (sāikil), بائیسکل f (bāīsikal)
• Uyghur: ۋېلىسىپىت (wëlisipit)
• Uzbek: velosiped (uz)
• Vietnamese: xe đạp (vi) (車踏)
• Volapük: saikul (vo), (obsolete) telaluib
• Võro: jalgratas
• Welsh: beic (cy) m, deurodur m
• West Frisian: fyts (fy)
• Western Panjabi: سیکل (pnb) (sekl)
• Yiddish: ביציקל m (bitsikl), ראָווער m (rover), וועלאָסיפּעד m (velosiped), ביציקלעט m (bitsiklet)
• Zhuang: danci

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} cyclo- (nl) (only used in compounds), ^{(please verify)} rijwiel (nl) n (usually a bicycle)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

bicycle (third-person singular simple present bicycles, present participle bicycling, simple past and past participle bicycled)

1. (intransitive) To travel or exercise using a bicycle.

Translations

to ride a bicycle

• Dutch: fietsen (nl), wielrennen (nl) (sport)
• Esperanto: bicikli (eo)
• Finnish: pyöräillä (fi)
• French: faire du vélo, faire de la bicyclette, rouler à vélo, pédaler (fr)
• Galician: andar en bicicleta
• German: Rad fahren (de), (colloquial) radeln (de)
• Greek: ποδηλατώ (el) (podilató)
• Hungarian: biciklizik (hu), kerékpározik (hu)
• Icelandic: hjóla (is)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: biciklagar (io)
• Indonesian: bersepeda (id)
• Malay: berbasikal
• Swedish: cykla (sv)
• Vietnamese: đạp xe
• Volapük: saikulön (vo)
• Westrobothnian: ,
• Yiddish: ביציקלירן (bitsiklirn)

---

French

Alternative forms

• bécik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi.sikl/

• Audio (CAN):

  (file)

Noun

bicycle m (plural bicycles)

1. bicycle

   Synonym: bicyclette

Derived terms

• bicyclette

Descendants

• → English: bicycle
• → Polish: bicykl

Further reading

• “bicycle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.