cycle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsaɪ.kəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cicle,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French cicle, cycle,^[2][3] and directly from Late Latin cyclus,^[2][3][5] from Ancient Greek κύκλος (kýklos, “circle, ring, wheel; circular motion, cycle of events”),^[2][3] from a reduplicated, suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *kwel- (“to revolve, move round”).^[2] It is related to wheel and cyclone.^[3][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A recurrent period of time, at first in astronomy and the reckoning of the calendar: before 1387 in Barnhart, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[3] 1387 in the OED,^[8] the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[2] Hoad notes that it was used only occasionally before the 17th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, a period in which a round of events is completed, is from 1662,^[8] and “any recurring round of operations or events”, as in a life cycle, from the 1660s.^[2][8] Johnson in 1755 defined it as “a circle” and “a round of time”.^[9] A single complete period in a cycle is from 1821.^[2][8] A series of poems or romances around a central event or hero is from 1835,^[8] the 19th century in Hoad.^[6] The verb, to revolve or recur in cycles, is from 1842, in Tennyson's Two Voices.^[3][8] As a short form of bicycle or tricycle it gave the verb “to ride a bicycle”, from 1883 in the OED and Barnhart,^[8][3] by 1881 in Etymonline, implied in cycling;^[2] cyclist is from 1882.^[3] Cyclic is from 1794.^[3]

Timeline

• a. 1387 – a recurrent period of years.^[3][8]
• 1662 – a round of events.^[8]
• 1794 – cyclic.^[3]
• 1821 – one complete period.^[2][8]
• 1835 – a cycle of poems.^[8]
• 1842 – verb, to revolve in cycles.^[3][8]
• 1882 – cyclist.^[3]
• 1883 – verb, to ride a bicycle.^[8][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A period of time in which a regularly repeated event or sequence of events happens.
2. A single complete run of a repeated process: a washing cycle.
3. A series of events that repeats in the same order: the cycle of the seasons.
4. A long period of time; an age.
5. A group of poems, songs or stories about a central theme or hero.
6. A bicycle, motorcycle or similar vehicle.

Verb

1. To occur in or pass through a cycle.
2. To ride a bicycle or similar vehicle.

Word family

• cycler
• acyclic
• cyclase
• cyclecar
• two-cycle
• cyclic
• cyclin
• cyclize

Related words

• bicycle
• cycleway
• motorcycle
• quadricycle
• tricycle
• unicycle
• recycle
• cyclist
• cyclone
• encyclopedia
• wheel

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.