tricycle

Etymology

It is borrowed from French tricycle, used in French in 1827 for a three-wheeled horse-drawn coach,^[2][3][4] and formed there from tri- (“three”) and Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”).^[2][5][6] The American Heritage Dictionary takes the prefix from Greek,^[5] Barnhart from Latin.^[7] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford describe the word simply as an English formation from tri- and cycle.^[8][9] The OED compares bicycle.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A three-wheeled coach or omnibus drawn by two horses, used in Paris: 1828, in the Annual Register,^[2][7] and noted by Etymonline as a new thing in a Parisian context.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The coach sense is recorded only in the early 19th century,^[9][2] and the word then named the pedal version, a modification of the bicycle.^[3] Ayto quotes the Daily News of 7 September 1868 on "bysicles and trysicles" seen in Paris that summer,^[10] and the OED's first quotation for the pedal vehicle is from London Society that November.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also give 1868.^[7][6] The French word has this sense in the Académie's dictionary of 1878.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged records that it was at first used by women or girls instead of a bicycle, and it lists a child's vehicle as a further kind.^[6] The verb followed in 1883.^[2] In the 20th century the word was extended to an aeroplane with a three-wheeled undercarriage (1942) and to a three-wheeled motor vehicle for a person with restricted mobility (1974).^[2]

Timeline

• 1828 – a three-wheeled horse-drawn coach, in Paris (obsolete).^[2][7]
• 1868 – a pedal vehicle with three wheels.^[10][2][7]
• 1883 – verb, to ride a tricycle.^[2]
• 1942 – an aeroplane with a three-wheeled undercarriage.^[2]
• 1974 – a three-wheeled motor vehicle for a disabled person.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A three-wheeled pedal vehicle, especially a child's, with a larger front wheel that steers.^[11][6][2]
2. A three-wheeled motor vehicle, especially one designed for a disabled person.^[11][2][9]
3. An aeroplane with a three-wheeled undercarriage.^[2]
4. (obsolete, 1828) A three-wheeled coach drawn by two horses.^[2][9]

Verb

1. To ride a tricycle.^[11][6][2]

Word family

• tricyclist
• tricycler

Related words

• bicycle
• cycle
• tri-
• wheel

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins