Cycling

How to spell cycling

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cycling

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cycling mean?

1. nounThe activity or sport of riding a bicycle.
2. verbPresent participle of cycle: travelling by bicycle, or moving repeatedly through a recurring sequence.

Cycling in a sentence

• noun

  Cycling to work each morning has improved her fitness.

• verb

  They spent the holiday cycling through the French countryside.

• noun

  He took up cycling after his doctor suggested gentle exercise.

• verb

  The washing machine kept cycling between rinse and spin.

Where does cycling come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek kyklos, which literally meant 'circle' or 'wheel', the same root that gives us 'cycle' itself. Latin borrowed it as cyclus, and it passed into English through the broader family of circle-and-wheel words. The modern sense arrived with the machine: once the pedal-driven 'bicycle' became popular in the later 1800s, the verb 'to cycle' and the activity noun 'cycling' followed naturally, since the rider turns the wheels in continuous circles. The spelling keeps the Greek 'y' in the first syllable, which is the small trap, and it uses a single 'l' before the -ing rather than a doubled one, because the stress falls on the first syllable. Relatives sharing the same kyklos root include 'cyclone', 'encyclopaedia', and 'recycle', all carrying that idea of something turning or coming round again.

How the word is built

• cycl- (from Greek kyklos: circle, wheel)
• -ing (verbal noun / present-participle suffix)