bicycle

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:

bicycle

A bicycle

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪsɪkl̩/
Audio (US)
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Audio (UK)
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Audio (AU)
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Hyphenation: bi‧cy‧cle

Noun[edit]

bicycle (plural bicycles)

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.
A traveling block used on a cable in skidding logs.
The best possible hand in lowball.
(Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A motorbike.
(vulgar slang, usually in compounds specifying a context) a slut; a promiscuous woman
- 2002, Minette Walters, Fox Evil, Macmillan, page 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. [...]’

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

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

Translations[edit]

vehicle

Afrikaans: fiets (af)
Albanian: biçikletë (sq) f
Amharic: ብስክሌት (bəskəlet)
Apache:
Western Apache: iłkádilʼisí
Arabic: دَرَّاجَة‎ (ar) f (darrāja)
Egyptian Arabic: عجلة‎ f (ʿagala), بسكلتة‎ f (beskleta)

Hijazi Arabic: بسكليتة‎ f (buskulēta)

Moroccan Arabic: بشكليطة‎ (bišklīṭa), بشكليطة‎ (bšaklīṭa)
Armenian: հեծանիվ (hy) (hecaniv)
Asturian: bicicleta (ast) f
Azerbaijani: velosiped (az), dırığın (dialectal)
Basque: txirrindu (eu), bizikleta (eu)
Belarusian: ро́вар m (róvar), веласіпе́д m (vjelasipjéd)
Bengali: বাইসাইকেল (baiśaikel), 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 (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)

Dungan: чидичәзы (čidičəzɨ)

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 Bei: 跤踏車, 跤踏车 (káu-dā-chiá)

Min Dong: 跤踏車, 跤踏车 (kă-dăk-chiă)

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), 自行車, 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 (kavtočary)
Esperanto: biciklo (eo)
Estonian: jalgratas (et), ratas (colloquial)
Ewe: gasɔ
Farefare: kutuyeho, kut-weefo (dialectal)
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), Drahtesel (de) m (colloquial), 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), साइकल f (sāikal)
Hungarian: kerékpár (hu), bicikli (hu)
Iban: basikal
Icelandic: reiðhjól (is) n
Ido: biciklo (io)
Indonesian: sepeda (id)
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) (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:
Northern Kurdish: duçerxe (ku)
Kyrgyz: велосипед (ky) (velosiped), чалынгыч (çalıngıç)
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), (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 (sāykal)
Mongolian: унадаг дугуй (mn) (unadag dugui)
Moore: kut weefo, keekee
Nahuatl: omalacatl, omemalacatl (nah)
Navajo: dziʼizí
Nepali: साइकल (sāikal)
Norman: bike f (Jersey)
Norwegian: sykkel (no) m
Occitan: bicicleta (oc) f
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, baique f (informally)
Punjabi: ਸਾਈਕਲ (pa) (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
Sanskrit: द्विचक्रिका (dvicakrikā)
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
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 9 or 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)
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[edit]

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

(intransitive) To travel or exercise using a bicycle.

Translations[edit]

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)
Icelandic: hjóla (is)

Ido: biciklagar (io)
Indonesian: bersepeda (id)
Malay: berbasikal
Swedish: cykla (sv)
Vietnamese: đạp xe
Volapük: saikulön (vo)
Westrobothnian: sykel, ååk
Yiddish: ביציקלירן‎ (bitsiklirn)

French[edit]