Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

motorcycle

UK/ˈməʊʔəˌsaɪkl̩/US/ˈmoʊtɚˌsaɪkəl/
nounA2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #2,644 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: motorcycles

A motorcycle is a fast two-wheeled machine with an engine. Ride a motorcycle, a motorcycle helmet, motorcycle licence.

It stays upright because the spinning wheels and the steering geometry correct any lean, which is why a moving one is stable and a stationary one is not. Riders are far more exposed than drivers and are killed at many times the rate per mile. Note that the word is motor plus cycle and dates from the 1890s.

Devanand.j · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of motorcycle

  1. 1nounmotorcycleA fast two-wheeled machine with an engine.A2+

    “He rode his motorcycle to work, weaving through the traffic.”

motorcycle is a vehicle.

Also accepted in games: motorbike

Where it comes from

Motor plus cycle, from the French Motocyclette of 1897. Cycle comes from Greek kyklos, a circle.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kʷel-

  2. English, today

    motorcycle

From motor + cycle. From motor + cycle, from the Motorcyclette produced in 1897 by the French Werner Frères et Cie.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Travel & Transport

Practise this word

motorcycle in the wild

  • Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with its historical rival, Indian Motorcycle Company.

    Harley-Davidson

  • Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle and being involved in other related social activities such as joining a motorcycle club and attending motorcycle rallies.

    Motorcycle

  • In 2022, the top four motorcycle producers by volume and type were Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki.

    Motorcycle

  • Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing.

    Grand Prix motorcycle racing

  • Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of the twentieth century, when large national events were often given the title Grand Prix.

    Grand Prix motorcycle racing

1 / 3

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.