bicycle

English

A bicycle

Etymology

From bi- (“two”) +‎ Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”), on the pattern of tricycle. First attested in English in 1868, from French bicyclette (1847). Superseded earlier velocipede.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪsɪkl̩/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -aɪsɪkəl
• 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.
2. A traveling block used on a cable in skidding logs.
3. The best possible hand in lowball.
4. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A motorbike.

Synonyms

• bike (colloquial)
• cycle
• push-bike, pushbike
• velocipede
• See also Thesaurus:bicycle

Descendants

• → Burmese: ဘိုင်စကယ် (bhuingca.kai)

Translations

vehicle

• Afrikaans: fiets (af)
• Albanian: biçikletë (sq) f
• Amharic: ብስክሌት (bəsklet)
• Arabic: دَرَّاجَة‎‎ (ar) f (darrāja)

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

  Hijazi Arabic: بسكليتة‎‎ f (buskulēta)

  Moroccan: بشكليت‎‎ (bešklīt), بشكليطة‎‎ (bišklīṭa)

• Armenian: հեծանիվ (hy) (hecaniv)
• Asturian: bicicleta f
• Azerbaijani: velosiped (az)
• Basque: txirrindu (eu), bizikleta (eu)
• Belarusian: ро́вар m (róvar), веласіпе́д m (vjelasipjéd)
• Bengali: বাইসাইকেল (baisaikel), সাইকেল (saikel)
• Breton: bisiklet 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 (daan¹ ce¹), 腳車, 脚车 (goek³ ce¹), 自行車, 自行车 (zi⁶ hang⁴ ce¹), 腳踏車, 脚踏车 (goek³ daap⁶ ce¹)

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

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

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

  Wu: 腳踏車, 脚踏车 (jiaq daq tsho)

• Cornish: deuros, dewros f
• Czech: kolo (cs) n, jizdní kolo n, bicykl (cs) m
• Danish: cykel (da) c
• Dutch: fiets (nl) m, rijwiel (nl) n (usually a bicycle)
• Erzya: кавточары (kavtočary)
• Esperanto: biciklo (eo)
• Estonian: jalgratas (et), ratas (colloquial)
• Ewe: gasɔ
• Faroese: súkkla (fo) f
• Finnish: polkupyörä (fi)
• 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), colloquial: Drahtesel (de) m, Veloziped (de) n (dated)

  Alemannic German: Welo n

• Greek: ποδήλατο (el) n (podílato)
• Gujarati: સાઇકલ (sāikal), પાયગાડી (pāyagāḍī)
• Hausa: basukur
• Hebrew: אוֹפַנַּיִם‎‎ (he) m pl (ofanáyim), זוּג אוֹפַנַּיִם‎‎ m (zug ofanáyim)
• Hiligaynon: bisikleta
• Hindi: साइकिल (hi) f (sāikil)
• Hungarian: kerékpár (hu), bicikli (hu)
• Iban: basikal
• Icelandic: reiðhjól (is) n
• Ido: biciklo (io)
• Indonesian: sepeda (id)
• Interlingue: bicicle
• 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)
• 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) (velosïped)
• Khmer: កង់ (km) (kɑng), រទេះកង់ (rɔteh kɑng), ប៊ីស៊ីក្លេត (biisiikleet), ទោចក្រយាន (km) (too cak yiən)
• Kongo: dikâlu, kivyangu-vyangu
• Korean: 자전거 (ko) (jajeon-geo) (自轉車)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: duçerxe (ku)

• Kyrgyz: велосипед (ky) (velosiped)
• 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

• Lü: ᦷᦟᧆᦂᦳᧂᦵᦦᧃ (lot kuŋ kwen), ᦷᦟᧆᦏᦲᧇᧈ (lot tʰiip)
• Macedonian: велосипе́д m (velosipéd), (colloquial) точак m (točak)
• Malay: basikal (ms), kereta angin, sepeda, pit
• Malayalam: സൈക്കിൾ (ml) (saikkiḷ)
• Maltese: rota (mt)
• Manx: daachiarkyl, daawheeyl
• Maori: paihikara
• Marathi: सायकल (saykal)
• Mongolian: унадаг дугуй (mn) (unadag duguj)
• Nahuatl: omalacatl, omemalacatl (nah)
• Navajo: dziʼizí
• Norman: bike f (Jersey)
• Norwegian: sykkel (no) m
• Oriya: ସାଇକେଲ (saikelô)
• 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
• Punjabi: ਸਾਈਕਲ (sāīkal)
• Quechua: iskaymuyu, antapyu, lata wuru
• Romanian: bicicletă (ro) f
• Romansch: velo m
• Russian: велосипе́д (ru) m (velosipéd), ве́лик (ru) m (vélik) (colloquial)
• Samogitian: dvėratis
• Scottish Gaelic: baidhsagal m, rothair m, rothar dà-chuibhleach m, (colloquial) baic m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бицикл m

  Roman: bicikl (sh) m

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• 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)
• Tolai: aingau
• Turkish: bisiklet (tr)
• Turkmen: welosiped
• Ukrainian: велосипе́д (uk) m (velosypéd)
• Urdu: سائیکل‎‎ f (sā'ikil), بائیسکل‎‎ f (bā'īsikal)
• 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)
• 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. 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)

Verb

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

1. To travel or exercise using a bicycle.

Translations

to ride a bicycle

• Dutch: fietsen (nl)
• Esperanto: bicikli (eo)
• French: faire du vélo, faire de la bicyclette, rouler à vélo
• German: Rad fahren (de), (colloquial) radeln (de)
• Greek: ποδηλατώ (el) (podilató)
• Icelandic: hjóla (is)
• Ido: biciklagar (io)

• Indonesian: bersepeda (id)
• Malay: berbasikal
• Swedish: cykla (sv)
• Vietnamese: đạp xe
• Volapük: saikulön (vo)
• Yiddish: ביציקלירן‎‎ (bitsiklirn)

See also

• like riding a bicycle
• motorcycle
• tricycle
• unicycle

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French

Alternative forms

• bécik

Noun

bicycle m (plural bicycles)

1. bicycle

   Synonym: bicyclette