bike
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From bicycle, by shortening, and possibly alteration. Attested from 1882.
One explanation for the pronunciation is that bicycle is parsed to bi(cy)c(le). An alternative explanation is that bicycle is shortened to bic(ycle), and the terminal [s] is converted to a [k] because there is an underlying underspecified [k]/[s] sound, which is softened to [s] in bicycle but retained as [k] in bike; compare the letter ‘c’ (used for [k]/[s]).[1]
Noun
bike (plural bikes)
- Clipping of bicycle.
- Clipping of motorbike.
- (slang, derogatory) Ellipsis of village bike.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- antibike
- aquabike
- aqua bike
- balance bike
- bar bike
- beer bike
- bikable
- bike-and-ride
- bikeathon
- bike box
- bike cab
- bikefishing
- bike jockey strap
- bike lane
- bike-lash
- bikelash
- bikeless
- bikelike
- bikelock
- bike lock
- bikemaker
- bike motocross
- bikepacker
- bikepacking
- bike path
- bikeporn
- bike pump
- biker
- bike rack
- bike ride
- bikeroad
- bikery
- bikeshare
- bikeshed
- bike shed
- bike-shedding
- bike staple
- bike station
- biketard
- bike taxi
- bikeway
- bikewear
- bikie, bikey (Australia)
- BMX bike
- Boris bike
- box bike
- Christ on a bike
- dirtbike
- e-bike
- exercise bike
- ghost bike
- gravel bike
- hand bike
- handbike
- hoverbike
- hyperbike
- lady's bike
- like riding a bike
- litrebike
- minibike
- monkey bike
- musclebike
- off-road bike
- on yer bike
- on your bike
- outbike
- party bike
- pocket bike
- push bike
- push-bike
- quad bike
- racebike
- railbike
- rat bike
- skibike
- skybike
- snow bike
- spinning bike
- sportbike
- sport bike
- stationary bike
- superbike
- town bike
- trail bike
- village bike
- water bike
- waterbike
Descendants
Translations
bicycle
|
motorcycle
|
See also
Verb
bike (third-person singular simple present bikes, present participle biking, simple past and past participle biked)
- (intransitive) To ride a bike.
- I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today.
- (intransitive) To travel by bike.
- It was such a nice day I decided to bike to the store, though it's far enough I usually take my car.
- (transitive) To transport by bicycle.
- I biked them the letters.
- 2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian:
- Frank, a teenager, arrived at his grandfather’s shop to begin work as a butcher’s boy. The job would be to bike parcels of meat around Dronfield and the surrounding countryside between the cities of Sheffield and Chesterfield, right on the county border of Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
Descendants
- → French: biker (verb)
Translations
to ride a bike
to travel by bike
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
- An Etymological Brainteaser: The Shortening of Bicycle to Bike, Robert B. Hausmann, American Speech, Vol. 51, No. 3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 1976), pp. 272–274
Further reading
Etymology 2
From Middle English bike, byke (“a nest of wild bees or wasps; also, honeycomb”), of unknown origin. Perhaps a back-formation of Middle English *bykere (“beekeeper”), from Old English bēocere (“beekeeper”); or from Old English *bȳc, a byform of Old English būc (“belly; vessel; container”). Compare also Scots byke (“beehive, anthill; home, dwelling”), Old Norse bý (“bee”).
Alternative forms
Noun
bike (plural bikes)
- (Scotland, Northern England) A hive of bees, or a nest of wasps, hornets, or ants.
- 1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC:
- like blue bottle flees in a blink of sunshine, […] A bonny bike there’s o’ them!
- 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 107:
- he stood for a minute talking to them about their job of gathering cones, and telling them a story about a tree he’d once climbed which had a wasp’s byke in it unbeknown to him.
- (chiefly Scotland, by extension, collective) A crowd of people.
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