motorcycle

See also: motor cycle and motor-cycle

English

A motorcycle (Vincent Black Lightning)

Alternative forms

• motor cycle, motor-cycle

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊtəˌsaɪkəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊtɚˌsaɪkəl/, [ˈmoʊɾɚˌsaɪkl̩]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mo‧tor‧cy‧cle

Noun

motorcycle (plural motorcycles)

1. An open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars instead of a steering wheel, and having two (or sometimes three) wheels.
   • 1995 October, Steven Puchalski, “Can these sci-fi videos show us the Woman of the Future?”, in Sci Fi Entertainment, page 36:

     Her big mission is to recover the precious Blue Star (a glowing rock in a box), which leads to a Western shoot-out, a space-age motorcycle gang, and an unamusing Darth Vader-esque villain.

   • 2009 February 15, Judith Martin, “It Started in Naples”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     That last problem did intrude on Hazzard’s roamings, and when she refers to the living city it is with periodic references to thefts of cars and wallets, with a warning not to carry anything “snatchable” by the thieves on motorcycles who whiz through the streets.

   • 2021, Rivers Solomon, Sorrowland, #Merky Books, page 43:

     Vern rubbed her hands along the motorcycles, admiring their size and power, their silver and black sleekness.

Synonyms

• (motor-powered vehicle): bike, chopper, cycle, moped, motorbicycle (obsolete), motorbike, autobike, autobicycle (obsolete)

Coordinate terms

• bicycle, bike, e-bike (differentiated by societal convention even when having two or three wheels and a motor)

Derived terms

• donorcycle
• motorcycle club
• motorcycle sport
• motorcycle taxi
• motorcycling
• motorcyclist
• touring motorcycle

Descendants

• → Bengali: মোটর সাইকেল (mōṭor śaikel)
• → Danish: motorcykel
• → Hindi: मोटरसाइकिल (moṭarsāikil)
• → Malay: motosikal
• → Norwegian Bokmål: motorsykkel
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: motorsykkel
• → Swedish: motorcykel
• → Thai: มอเตอร์ไซค์ (mɔɔ-dtəə-sai)

Translations

open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars instead of a steering wheel

• Afrikaans: motorfiets
• Albanian: motoçikletë (sq) f
• Amharic: ዶቅዶቄ (doḳdoḳe), ሞተርሳይክል (motärsaykəl)
• Arabic: مُوتُوسِيكِل m (mōtōsīkil)

  Egyptian Arabic: متوسكل m (mutusekl)

  Iraqi Arabic: ماطورْ m (māṭōr)

  Hijazi Arabic: دباب m (dabbab)

• Armenian: մոտոցիկլետ (hy) (motocʻiklet), մոտոցիկլ (hy) (motocʻikl), (colloquial) մոտո (hy) (moto)
• Assamese: মটৰ চাইকেল (motor saikel)
• Asturian: motocicleta f, moto f
• Azerbaijani: motosiklet
• Bashkir: мотоцикл (mototsikl)
• Belarusian: матацы́кл m (matacýkl)
• Bengali: মোটরসাইকেল (bn) (mōṭrośaikel)
• Bikol Central: motorsiklo
• Bulgarian: мотоцикле́т (bg) m (motociklét)
• Burmese: မော်တော်ဆိုင်ကယ် (my) (mautauhcuingkai)
• Catalan: motocicleta (ca) f, moto (ca) f
• Cebuano: motorsiklo
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 電單車 / 电单车 (din⁶ daan¹ ce¹), 摩托車 / 摩托车 (mo¹ tok³ ce¹)

  Dungan: мотуәчә (motuəčə), хуәчичәзы (huəčičəzɨ), мотоцикл (motocikl)

  Eastern Min: 摩托車 / 摩托车 (mò̤-táuk-chiă)

  Hakka: 奧多拜 / 奥多拜 (ò-to-pái), 機車 / 机车 (kî-chhâ), 引擎 (ên-chín)

  Hokkien: 撲撲車 / 扑扑车 (phok-phok-chhia), 歐兜邁 / 欧兜迈 (o͘-tó͘-bái), 機車 / 机车 (zh-min-nan) (ki-chhia), 引擎 (iân-jín), 機器跤踏車 / 机器跤踏车 (ki-khì kha-ta̍h-chhia)

  Mandarin: 摩托車 / 摩托车 (zh) (mótuōchē), 機車 / 机车 (zh) (jīchē) (Taiwan), 摩托 (zh) (mótuō), 機器腳踏車 / 机器脚踏车 (zh) (jīqì jiǎotàchē) (Taiwan), 電單車 / 电单车 (zh) (diàndānchē)

  Wu: 摩托車 / 摩托车 (⁶mo-thoq-tsho)

• Czech: motocykl (cs) m, motorka (cs) f (colloquial)
• Danish: motorcykel (da) c
• Dutch: motorfiets (nl) m, motor (nl) m
• Esperanto: motorbiciklo (eo), motorciklo
• Estonian: mootorratas
• Finnish: moottoripyörä (fi)
• French: moto (fr) f, motocyclette (fr) f, motocycle (fr) m
• Galician: motocicleta (gl) f, moto (gl) f
• Georgian: მოტოციკლი (moṭociḳli)
• German: Motorrad (de) n

  Alemannic German: Töff m

• Greek: μηχανή (el) f (michaní), δίκυκλο (el) n (díkyklo), μοτοσικλέτα (el) f (motosikléta), μοτοσυκλέτα (el) (motosykléta)
• Gujarati: મોટરસાયકલ (moṭarsāyakal), બાઈક (bāīka) (formally)
• Hausa: babur
• Hawaiian: mokokaikala
• Hebrew: אוֹפַנּוֹעַ (he) m (ofanóa)
• Hiligaynon: motorsiklo
• Hindi: मोटरसाइकिल f (moṭarsāikil), मोटरबाइक f (moṭarbāik)
• Hungarian: motorkerékpár (hu), motorbicikli (hu)
• Icelandic: mótorhjól (is) n
• Ido: motorobiciklo (io)
• Indonesian: sepeda motor (id)
• Irish: gluaisrothar (ga) m
• Italian: motocicletta (it) f, moto (it) f, motociclo (it) m
• Japanese: オートバイ (ja) (ōtobai), バイク (ja) (baiku), 自動二輪車 (ja) (じどうにりんしゃ, jidō nirinsha), 単車 (ja) (たんしゃ, tansha)
• Javanese: montor, motor, dogos (Yogyakarta slang)
• Kazakh: мотоцикл (motosikl)
• Khmer: ទោចក្រយានយន្ត (toocakkrɑyiən yŭən), ម៉ូតូ (moutou)
• Korean: 오토바이 (ko) (otobai), 모터사이클 (moteosaikeul)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: motorsiklêt (ku)

• Kyrgyz: мотоцикл (ky) (mototsikl)
• Lao: ລົດຈັກ (lo) (lot chak), ຣົຖຈັກ (rot chak)
• Latin: autobirota f (New Latin)
• Latvian: motocikls m
• Lithuanian: motociklas m
• Lü: ᦷᦙᧉᦷᦒᧉ (mo²tho²)
• Luxembourgish: Moto (lb) f, Motorrad n
• Macedonian: мотор (mk) m (motor), мотоци́кл m (motocíkl)
• Malagasy: môtô (mg)
• Malay: sepeda motor (ms), motosikal (ms)
• Maltese: mutur m
• Maori: motopaika
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: мотоцикл (mn) (motocikl)

  Mongolian: ᠮᠣᠲ᠋ᠣᠼᠢᠻᠯ (motocikl)

• Navajo: dziʼizítsoh
• Nepali: मोटरसाइकल (ne) (moṭarsāikal)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: motorsykkel m

  Nynorsk: motorsykkel m

• Odia: ମଟର ସାଇକେଲ (maṭara sāikela)
• Pannonian Rusyn: моторка f (motorka)
• Pashto: موټرسايکل m (moṭarsāykel), موټرګاټ m (moṭargāṭ), ټپټپ m (ṭapṭap), ټپټپی m (ṭapṭapay)
• Persian:

  Dari: موتَرْسَیْکَل (mōtarsaykal)

  Iranian Persian: موتورْسیکْلِت (motorsiklet)

• Polish: motocykl (pl) m
• Portuguese: motocicleta (pt) f, moto (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਮੋਟਰਸਾਈਕਲ (moṭrasāīkal), ਬਾਈਕ (bāīka), ਮੋਟਰਬਾਈਕ (moṭrabāīka)
• Romanian: motocicletă (ro) f
• Russian: мотоци́кл (ru) m (motocíkl)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мотоцѝкл m

  Roman: motocìkl (sh) m

• Shan: မေႃႇတေႃႇၸၢႆႇၵိူဝ်ႇ (màu tàu tsàai kòe), လူတ်ႉၶိူင်ႈ (lṵ̂ut khōeng)
• Sindhi: موٽر سائيڪل
• Sinhalese: යතුරුපැදිය (yaturupædiya)
• Slovak: motocykel m, motorka f (colloquial)
• Slovene: motocikel m
• Sotho: sethuthuthu
• Spanish: motocicleta (es) f (formal), moto (es) f, motor m (Dominican Republic, colloquial), motora f (Puerto Rico, colloquial)
• Swahili: pikipiki
• Swedish: motorcykel (sv) c
• Tagalog: motorsiklo
• Tajik: мотосикл (motosikl)
• Thai: จักรยานยนต์ (th) (jàk-grà-yaan-yon), มอเตอร์ไซค์ (th) (mɔɔ-dtəə-sai), รถเครื่อง (th) (rót-krʉ̂ʉang), มอไซค์ (th) (mɔɔ-sai)
• Tibetan: སྦག་སྦག (sbag sbag), མོ་ཐོ (mo tho), མོ་ཐོ་ཁྲེ (mo tho khre)
• Tigrinya: ሞቶ (moto)
• Turkish: motosiklet (tr)
• Turkmen: motosikl
• Ukrainian: мотоци́кл m (motocýkl)
• Urdu: موٹَر سائِیکِل f (moṭar sāīkil)
• Uyghur: موتسىكلىت (motsiklit)
• Uzbek: mototsikl (uz)
• Vietnamese: xe mô tô (vi), mô tô (vi), xe máy (vi), xe gắn máy (vi)
• Volapük: motorasaikul
• Welsh: beic modur (cy) m
• Western Panjabi: موٹر سیکل (pnb) (moṭr sekl)
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Wutunhua: moto
• Yiddish: מאָטאָציקל m (mototsikl)
• Yoruba: ọ̀kadà, alùpùpù
• Zhuang: mohdozceh, mozdozceh

See also

• scooter

Verb

motorcycle (third-person singular simple present motorcycles, present participle motorcycling, simple past and past participle motorcycled)

1. (intransitive) To ride a motorcycle.

Translations

to ride a motorcycle

• Dutch: motorrijden (nl)
• Finnish: moottoripyöräillä