velocipede

[ vuh-los-uh-peed ]

noun

1. a vehicle, usually having two or three wheels, that is propelled by the rider.
2. an early kind of bicycle or tricycle.
3. a light, three-wheeled, pedal-driven vehicle for railway inspection, used for carrying one person on a railroad track.

velocipede

/ vɪˈlɒsɪˌpiːd /

noun

1. an early form of bicycle propelled by pushing along the ground with the feet
2. any early form of bicycle or tricycle

Derived Forms

• veˈlociˌpedist, noun

Other Words From

• ve·loci·pedist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of velocipede¹

1810–20; < French vélocipède bicycle, equivalent to véloci- (< Latin, stem of vēlōx quick) + -pède -ped

Word History and Origins

Origin of velocipede¹

C19: from French vélocipède, from Latin vēlōx swift + pēs foot

Example Sentences

Bike-adjacent inventions that roll atop train tracks have been known by many different names — handcar, draisine, kalamazoo and velocipede are just a few — since they first cropped up around the 1860s.

From Los Angeles Times

And between two wooden luggage carts from the late 1800s sits a railway velocipede, a three-wheeled handcar that was operated by pedals.

From Washington Times

The Unblinking Guide shrugged and put the velocipede into motion.

From Nature

James Starley stars in the exhibit as the inventor who took a primitive French contraption — the velocipede — and refined it to create the bicycle.

From New York Times

The young mechanic had been in the United States for a few months, and had brought with him from France a machine of his own devising - a pedal-cranked, two wheeled construction he called a "velocipede".

From BBC

Related Words

• bike