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derailleur

UK/dɪˈɹeɪl(j)ə/US/dəˈɹeɪləɹ/
nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: derailleurs

The derailleur is the mechanism that shifts the chain between gears. A rear derailleur.

It works by deliberately derailing the chain and catching it on the next sprocket. A derailleur must be shifted while pedalling or nothing happens at all.

SLOhistorian · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of derailleur

  1. 1nounderailleurThe mechanism that shifts the chain between gears.C1

    “The derailleur was bent and it skipped in three gears.”

derailleur is a mechanism.

Where it comes from

French derailleur, from derailler, to derail, since it derails the chain on purpose.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *h₃reǵ- — to righten; to straighten

  2. French

    dérailleur

  3. English, today

    derailleur

Built from

  • dérailler · French — to derail
  • rail · French — rail

French dérailleur, from dérailler (“to derail”) + -eur. Dérailler is derived from dé- + rail (“rail”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₃reǵ- (“to righten; to straighten”)) + -er. a doublet of derailer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Cycling

Practise this word

derailleur in the wild

  • The gears and lubricants are sealed within the shell of the hub gear, in contrast with derailleur gears where the gears and mechanism are exposed to the elements.

    Hub gear

  • An autobike or automatically geared bicycle is a bicycle with a derailleur or internally geared hub (transmission) that shifts gears without intervention from the rider.

    Autobike

  • An older derailleur-equipped bicycle with horizontal dropouts can be readily converted into singlespeed, fixed gear or to use an internally geared hub.

    Fork end

  • Typically, they operate either a derailleur mechanism or an internal hub gear mechanism.

    Shifter (bicycle part)

  • Most multi-speed bicycles have cable guides to get the derailleur cables past the bottom bracket.

    Cable guide

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.