Bicycle: Two Wheels, and the Word That Counts Them
A bicycle is a two-wheeled vehicle driven by pedals. The name is arithmetic — bi means two and cycle means wheel — which is why a tricycle has three.
A bicycle is a pedal-driven vehicle with two wheels in line, steered by handlebars. The word is a nineteenth-century coinage built from Greek and Latin parts. It replaced a delightful earlier name, the velocipede, which meant swift foot.
- A two-wheeled pedal vehicle. *He rode his bicycle to work.*
- To ride one (verb). *They bicycled the length of the valley.*
- An overhead kick (football, bicycle kick). *A spectacular bicycle kick.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bicycle | A folding bicycle. |
| Short form | bike | Chain up the bike. |
| Verb | cycle | She cycles daily. |
| Person | cyclist | A group of cyclists. |
| Related | tricycle | A child's tricycle. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Lock your bicycle to the stand, not to itself.Practical advice and a common instruction.
- You never forget how to ride a bicycle.The proverb about skills that stay learned.
- The city added forty miles of bicycle lanes.Bike lane is the more usual short form.
Words built on cycle
- Unicycle — one wheel
- Bicycle — two wheels
- Tricycle — three wheels
- Motorcycle — two wheels with an engine
- Cycle here comes from Greek *kyklos*, a circle or wheel
*Bicycle* is recorded from the 1860s, when the French *bicycle* crossed into English alongside the machines themselves. The high-wheeled penny-farthing came first; the safety bicycle of the 1880s, with equal wheels and a chain, is the shape we still ride.
Bicycle or bike?
Bike is the everyday word in speech and headlines. Bicycle survives in formal writing, signage and legal text.
Is cycle a verb everywhere?
In British English yes. Americans more often say ride or bike: *I bike to work*.