Wiktionary

bike

See also: biké, and Bíke

English

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A bike.

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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bike (plural bikes)

  2. Clipping of bicycle.
    • 2017, Chiz Dakin, Cycling in the Peak District […] , Cicerone Press Limited, →ISBN:
      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.
  4. Clipping of motorbike.
  5. (slang, derogatory) Ellipsis of village bike.
    Synonyms: slapper, slag
Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Italian: bike f
  • → Norman: bike f
Translations
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See also
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Verb

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bike (third-person singular simple present bikes, present participle biking, simple past and past participle biked)

  1. (intransitive) To ride a bike.
    • 1975 April 17, Jack Weatherly, “Dallas or Bust”, in The Courier News, volume 80, number 286, Blytheville, Ark., page 8, column 3:
      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.
    I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today.
  2. (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.
    • 2017, Gucci Mane, Neil Martinez-Belkin, The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, page 32:
      He saw me catch a trap and leave the house of a drug dealer. That's why he targeted me. He could have easily blown my ass off right then and there for lying, but for some reason he didn't. He just left. I biked back to my plug's spot and told him […]
  3. (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[1]:
      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
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked‌: "to bike"

References

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  1. ^ 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

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Etymology 2

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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

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Noun

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bike (plural bikes)

  1. (Scotland, Northern England) A hive of bees, or a nest of wasps, hornets, or ants.
  2. (chiefly Scotland, by extension, collective) A crowd of people.

Anagrams

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Basque

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Etymology

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From Latin pix.

Noun

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bike inan

  1. pitch

Farefare

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Pronunciation

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IPA(key): /bí.ké/

Verb

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bike

  1. shake, move
    Mam yetɩ m yõkɛ la foote, zɛ sĩm da bike
    I'm going to take a photo, keep still, and do not move

French

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Verb

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bike

  1. inflection of biker:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English bike.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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bike f (invariable)

  1. motorbike, motorcycle

Norman

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Norman Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nrf

Etymology

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Borrowed from English bike.

Noun

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bike f (plural bikes)

  1. (Jersey) bicycle

Derived terms

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Northern Kurdish

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Verb

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bike

  1. third-person singular future of kirin

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English bike.

Noun

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bike f (plural bikes)

  1. (Brazil) bike (bicycle)
    Synonym: bicicleta

Slovene

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Noun

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bike

  1. accusative plural of bik
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