Sport & ContestGreek → English
Velodrome
/ˈvɛlədroʊm/noun
A banked oval track built for bicycle racing.
The Greek roots
δρόμος
drómos
running, race-track
Literally: “speed-track”
Follow a root:δρόμος8 words
The story of the word
French vélodrome welded Latin velox, quick, to Greek δρόμος, the running track, in the 1880s, when track cycling drew crowds that football would envy today. δρόμος is the same word used for the sprint course at Olympia. The banking is the point: on a modern indoor track the turns rise to around 45 degrees, so riders can hold their line at speed instead of fighting the corner.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- late 19th century
Same family
hippodromeaerodromesyndromepalindromedromedary
In a sentence
The velodrome smells of wood varnish and holds noise like a drum.