Cyclist

How to spell cyclist

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cyclist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cyclist mean?

1. nounA person who rides a bicycle, whether for leisure, sport, or transport.

Cyclist in a sentence

• The cyclist signalled clearly before turning at the junction.

• Every cyclist on the team wore a reflective jacket for the night ride.

Where does cyclist come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek kuklos, which literally meant a circle or a wheel, the same root that gives us 'cycle' and 'cyclone'. Through Latin cyclus and then French, English acquired 'cycle' for any recurring round or revolution. When the pedal-driven machine called the bicycle (a 'two-wheel' device, blending Latin bi 'two' with the Greek wheel root) became popular in the second half of the 1800s, English coined 'cyclist' by adding the agent suffix -ist, meaning a person who does something, to name the rider. The word appears in print from the 1880s, when cycling clubs were booming across Britain. The spelling trap is the opening 'cy', which sounds like 'sigh' but is written with a c and a y, both inherited straight from the Greek wheel root.

How the word is built

• cycl- (from Greek kuklos: circle, wheel)
• -ist (agent suffix: one who does)