motorcycle

See also: motor cycle and motor-cycle

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

motorcycle

Wikipedia

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)

An open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars instead of a steering wheel, and having two (or sometimes three) wheels.
- 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

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)
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 (fa) (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

Verb

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

(intransitive) To ride a motorcycle.

Translations

to ride a motorcycle

Dutch: motorrijden (nl)
Finnish: moottoripyöräillä