Noun: bicycle
| Singular | bicycle |
| Plural | bicycles |
Sample Sentences
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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. [1882, “Principle in Small Things”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 22, page 274:]
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The small, three-wheeled bicycle-type vehicle is probably the lowest-cost set of wheels for routine, in-park patrol use. [1980, United States. National Park Service, Trends, page 40:]
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‘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. [...]’ [2002, Minette Walters, Fox Evil, Macmillan, pages 162–3:]
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The fumarate produced in the argininosuccinase reaction is also an intermediate of the citric acid cycle. Thus, the cycles are, in principle, interconnected — in a process dubbed the “Krebs bicycle”. [2021, David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox, Aaron A. Hoskins, Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Macmillan Learning, page 636:]
Nouns inflected like bicycle
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁
3. Proto-Indo-European *dwís
4. Proto-Italic *dwis
5. Old Latin duis
6. Latin bisder.
7. French bi-
8. Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-
9. Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos
10. Ancient Greek κῠ́κλος (kŭ́klos)der.
11. Late Latin cyclusder.
12. Middle French
13. French cycle
14. French bicyclebor.
15. English bicycle
16. Borrowed from French bicycle (modern bicyclette), from bi- (“two”) + cycle (“cycle”). By surface analysis, bi- + cycle. First attested in English in 1868, and in French in 1847.
17. (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. See: French Nouns '
bicycle'.
Verbs referencing "bicycle"
Hungarian Nouns
bicikli, Faroese Nouns
súkkla, Zulu Nouns
ibhayisikili.