Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Bicycle
/ˈbaɪsɪkəl/noun
A two-wheeled vehicle driven by pedals and steered by handlebars.
The Greek roots
κύκλος
kýklos
circle, wheel
Literally: “two wheels”
Follow a root:κύκλος14 words
The story of the word
The word appears in French around 1868 for the new pedal machine and crosses into English the same year, replacing the clumsier velocipede. It is a hybrid, Latin bi- bolted to Greek κύκλος, and purists of the day objected on exactly that ground. In Homer κύκλα are chariot wheels, and the word covers anything round, including a shield and the ring of a city wall.
- How it travelled
- Latin + Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 1868
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
cyclecycloneencyclopediaCyclops
In a sentence
He fixed the bicycle upside down on the kitchen floor with the wheel still spinning.