pedal

See also: pédal, pedál, Pedal, and pedał

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) Borrowed from French pédale, Italian pedale, Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pĕdʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈpɛdəl/
• enPR: pēdʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈpiːdəl/ or as the noun
• Homophones: peddle, petal

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) a foot or 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

• backpedal
• brake pedal
• pedal car
• pedal pushers
• soft pedal
• sostenuto pedal
• sustaining pedal

 

Related terms

Category English terms derived from the Mala (New Guinea) root pedal- not found

Translations

lever operated by one's foot

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պեդալ (hy) (pedal), ոտնակ (hy) (otnak)
• Belarusian: педа́ль f (pjedálʹ)
• Bulgarian: педа́л m (pedál)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: pedal (ca) m
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: pedál (cs) m
• Danish: pedal c
• Dutch: pedaal (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: pedalo
• Finnish: poljin (fi), (in instruments) pedaali (fi)
• French: pédale (fr) f
• Galician: pedal m
• German: Pedal (de) n
• Hungarian: pedál (hu)
• Ido: pedalo (io)
• Irish: troitheán (ga) m
• Italian: pedale (it) m
• Japanese: ペダル (pedaru)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 페달 (ko) (pedal)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: педа́ла f (pedála)
• Manx: coshal
• Maori: takahi
• Mongolian: дөрөө (mn) (döröö), гишгүүр (mn) (gišgüür)
• Norman: pédale f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pedal (no) m

  Nynorsk: pedal m

• Polish: pedał (pl) m
• Portuguese: pedal (pt) m
• Romanian: pedală (ro) f
• Russian: педа́ль (ru) f (pedálʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: casachan f, troighean m
• Spanish: pedal (es) m
• Swedish: pedal (sv) c, trampa (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: རྐང་རྟེན (rkang rten)
• Turkish: pedal (tr), ayaklık (tr)
• Ukrainian: педа́ль f (pedálʹ)
• Vietnamese: bàn đạp (vi)
• Vilamovian: pedaoł 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)
• Esperanto: pedali
• Finnish: polkea (fi)
• French: pédaler (fr)
• Galician: pedalear (gl)
• German: pedalieren (de), in die Pedale treten
• Ido: pedalagar (io)
• Irish: troitheánaigh
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: pedalare (it)
• Macedonian: педали́ра (pedalíra)
• Polish: pedałować (pl)
• Portuguese: pedalar (pt)
• Romanian: pedala (ro)
• Spanish: pedalear (es)
• Swedish: trampa (sv)
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Fuß- (de)
• Macedonian: ножен (nožen)
• Polish: nożny (pl)
• 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

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pəˈðal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [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.

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Chavacano

Etymology

From Spanish pedal (“pedal”).

Noun

pedal

1. pedal

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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.

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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.

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedālis.

Noun

pedal m (plural pedais)

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

Derived terms

• pedalar

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈdal/ [peˈð̞al]

Noun

pedal m (plural pedales)

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

Synonyms

• (drunkenness): See Thesaurus:borrachera.

Derived terms

• pedalear

Further reading

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

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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