Etymologically
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cycle

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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
  • 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.