bike
/bɑɪ̯k/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.53 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "It's called a gravel bike, and seems to combine the advantages of both road and mountain bikes – with a similar ability to lap up the miles on tarmac as a road bike, while still being very capable off-road."
- "Some of the bikes parked outside Granite Oaks Middle School are the Class Two e-bikes the district is banning."
- "He warmed up the engine; the bike hovered off the ground despite his weight and the extra equipment."
- "In 2017, Amsterdam banned beer bikes from the center of the Dutch city. About 6,000 locals signed a petition, calling on the council to outlaw the vehicles, referring to them as a “terrible phenomenon.”"
- "I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today."
- "In the 1890’s “women were behind the stove,” he relates. But they cycled, too. “And they had difficulty pedalling bicycles with ankle-length skirts. “At the time,” Taylor said, “the most sinful thing a woman could do was to show light between her legs. “The original culotte was designed by a LAW member’s wife. The churches (in the East) termed this bepantsed female activity of biking “sinful bicycling,” he noted."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *dwís Proto-Italic *dwis Old Latin duis Latin bisder. French bi- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kʷókʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kúklos Ancient Greek κῠ́κλος (kŭ́klos)der. Late Latin cyclusder. Middle French French cycle French bicyclebor. English bicycleclip. English bike Clipping of bicycle. First attested in 1882. One explanation for the form with /k/ is that bicycle was parsed to bi(cy)c(le). An alternative explanation is that it was parsed to bic(ycle) but since speakers are aware of a general /k/~/s/ alternation (as in electric ~ electricity etc.), the softened /s/ was restored to a default /k/ when the “ending” -ycle was dropped. Similar cases are merc /mɜɹk/, spec /spɛk/ for mercenary, specify. It seems unlikely, however, that this process is purely phonological and not at least partially based on the spelling ⟨c⟩.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bike, bēocere, *bȳc
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɑɪ̯k/