# Why Bike not Bice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725 "2018-05-06T23:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/21 "2018-05-08T11:16:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Maybe it’s just that words with hard vowels at the end sound shorter and more “self-contained”, and the whole purpose of abbreviation is to shorten words. I think so. Looking for a logical rule based on phonetics or spelling is probably not worth it - abbreviations are just stuff someone made up - and usually for convenience or comfort of speech, not for accuracy or preservation of meaning. It’s not very unusual for shortenings to insert or rearrange sounds so that the abbreviated word rolls off the tongue more easily - consider for example: Kilometre -\> Klick ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/22 "2018-05-08T12:16:14Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > IANALinguist, but something like this feels right to me. I think also the ‘k’ sound is hard and is sort of the essential sound in ‘bicycle’. The s and soft-i are so light they can vanish and you still have almost the same word. So it’s bie -si -kel \>\> bie -kel \>\> bie -ke Well, I am a linguist, and I’d just say that using the term “hard” when describing vowels or consonants is problematic because there’s no definition for it. It’s not a standard term, and really is subjective. It could mean anything. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/23 "2018-05-08T12:31:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > While we’re at it, “bike” can refer to either one, but seems to more often mean a motorcycle … Not around here … Especially in American cities where bicycles are becoming more prevalent, “bike” always means bicycle. Only for people who are part of the tiny motorcycle subculture does “bike” default to motorbike. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/24 "2018-05-08T12:35:44Z")
There is a discussion of this exact question in American Speech, a journal of linguistics only readily available on JSTOR, which is not accessible without an expensive subscription. However from the teaser I can gather that it is a named rule in English about the alternation of the k and s sound of the letter c in specific placements in words and behind certain vowels. [Here is the link](http://www.jstor.org/stable/454976?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/25 "2018-05-08T12:42:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Why don’t we call a motorcycle a moke? Moke is already a word. It is an archaic word for mule and has been adapted, in Barbados at least, for a small, 4 seat open vehicle, presumably from replacing mules. None of the explanations for the original question are entirely convincing. There would not be any problem with bice rhyming with mice. After all rice manages to continue. (Although my colleague conjectured that it might reanalyzed as a plural of a new count noun rie for a single grain, as happened with pease.) It is really a good question with no obvious answer. I wonder how old the word is. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/26 "2018-05-08T12:53:32Z")
Because “bice” is [a shade of blue.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bice) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/27 "2018-05-08T12:57:28Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > None of the explanations for the original question are entirely convincing. There would not be any problem with bice rhyming with mice. After all rice manages to continue. (Although my colleague conjectured that it might reanalyzed as a plural of a new count noun rie for a single grain, as happened with pease.) It is really a good question with no obvious answer. I wonder how old the word is. I think it’s just that, in general, abbreviations are not designed, they just happen - ‘Soccer’ (as an abbreviation/slang for ‘As **soc** iation Football’) makes little semantic sense at all in its own right - it just happened because a person, or people started using - possibly influenced by ‘rugger’ as slang for Rugby Football. If there _is_ no good explanation, then all explanations will be unconvincing. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/28 "2018-05-08T15:54:26Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Let’s start doing so today 🙂 And follow suit with [_uke_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicycle) and [_quake_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadracycle)! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/29 "2018-05-08T17:29:59Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Well, I am a linguist, and I’d just say that using the term “hard” when describing vowels or consonants is problematic because there’s no definition for it. It’s not a standard term, and really is subjective. It could mean anything. I’m not a linguist, but I don’t see why anything would need to be neatly defined for it to be true. Is not linguistics based on tendencies, not hard lines? Plus it seems intuitive to me that the poster is comparing the manner of articulation. /k/ is a stop, while /s/ is a fricative (and sibilant). I would intuitively call stops harder than fricatives. That said, it is only a hypothesis. Is there any evidence for such a preference when forming these non-written abbreviations? My hypothesis is that the word was thought of as “bic.”, and C at the end of a word was pronounced /k/. Spelling followed pronunciation, and so became “bike” instead. The test would be to see if “bic.” was ever an abbreviation for bicycle. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/30 "2018-05-08T17:33:33Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > And follow suit with [_uke_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicycle) and [_quake_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadracycle)! Uke is already short for ukulele. And, of course, quake is already a word, and has a completely different vowel, to boot. I also thought of making requiring the entire numerical prefix. “Quadrack” sorta works, but you just get word that sound like “unique” or “eunuch” with unicycle. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/31 "2018-05-08T18:14:40Z")
If we could see copies of the first several times the word “bike” was published, we’d have a chance of cracking this case. As it is, we’re all just making wild guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/32 "2018-05-08T18:23:54Z")
If you try to navigate the English language using logic as your guide, good luck to ya’. ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/33 "2018-05-08T23:26:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Maybe the “k” sound comes from the second c, not the first one? So it’s bicycle -\> bicyke -\> bike. > While we’re at it, “bike” can refer to either one, but seems to more often mean a motorcycle, even though “motorcycle” doesn’t have a B anywhere in it, but a “cycle” is always the pedal-powered one, even though both words contain “cycle”. I use “bike” regularly to speak of either, the kids have their bikes and I have mine. I’ve heard “cycling” frequently, always referring to bicycling, but never anyone actually call out either as a “cycle”. There are however several local motorcycle specific shops with names like ABC CYCLE or Smith Cycle parts, ect, but no similarly named bicycle shops I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/34 "2018-05-08T23:41:24Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > There is a discussion of this exact question in American Speech Son-of-a-Gun! Honestly, I thought someone would tell me something like “Because it’s from the [other language], where it’s pronounced ByKiKle” Instead, I discover, to my joy, that there are still unanswered questions where I understand the question. Which is an surprisingly happy experience. (I think I’ve spent too much time trying to learn quantum electronics, immunology, and how to be a good parent. Subjects were everyone else already know the answers.) ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/35 "2018-05-09T00:12:14Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Moke is already a word. It is an archaic word for mule and has been adapted, in Barbados at least, for a small, 4 seat open vehicle, presumably from replacing mules. > > None of the explanations for the original question are entirely convincing. There would not be any problem with bice rhyming with mice. After all rice manages to continue. (Although my colleague conjectured that it might reanalyzed as a plural of a new count noun rie for a single grain, as happened with pease.) It is really a good question with no obvious answer. I wonder how old the word is. Mouse -\> mice Louse -\> lice Grouse -\> grice House -\> hice Rouse -\> rice Hmmm. I seem to have a word problem. I should probably get the advouse of an expert. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/36 "2018-05-09T01:25:14Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > If we could see copies of the first several times the word “bike” was published, we’d have a chance of cracking this case. As it is, we’re all just making wild guesses. According to the Oxford English Dictionary: _Bicycle_ first appears in 1868, in both British and US sources. It’s an import from French. The earlier recorded use of _bike_ is in the compound phrase “bike literature”, used in a book review in the the _Cyclist and Bicycling and Tricycling Trades Review_ in December 1880: _“We can conscientiously recommend it as an excellent shillingsworth of ‘bike’ and ‘trike’ literature.”_ (This is also the first recorded use of _trike_.) A _Sporting Life_ article in 1883 helpfully identifies _bike_ and _trike_ as terms used in London. Presumably the writer thought that some readers would be unfamiliar with the terms. _Motorbike_ first appears in 1885, in the US, which implies that _bike_ for a bicycle was already common in the US by them. And _bike_ as an abbreviation for motorbike rather than for bicycle first appears in 1903, also in the US. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/37 "2018-05-09T01:41:48Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Maybe it’s just that words with hard vowels at the end sound shorter and more “self-contained”, and the whole purpose of abbreviation is to shorten words. I imagine it’s something like that. A similar example I can think of is the British shortening of “Mercedes” into “Merc,” said as “Merk.” Also, as a shortening of “mercenaries,” it’s often pronounced as “merk,” too. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/38 "2018-05-09T02:22:22Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > There is a discussion of this exact question in American Speech, a journal of linguistics only readily available on JSTOR, which is not accessible without an expensive subscription. However from the teaser I can gather that it is a named rule in English about the alternation of the k and s sound of the letter c in specific placements in words and behind certain vowels. > > [Here is the link](http://www.jstor.org/stable/454976?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) Su-weet. I can see that article: > [@](#): > > An Etymological Brainteaser: The Shortening of _Bicycle_ to _Bike_ > > […] OED gives the date 1868 as the first use in English for _bicycle_ (borrowed from the French). _Bike_ is an Americanism, first cited in a letter […] (1882). The crux of the problem is [k] as the final segment in _bike_: one would expect the abbreviation to be something like _bise_, with [s] as in the full form. > > The usual explanation is that […] lost by contraction and […] by abbreviation […] > > There is, however, a possible explanation from generative phonology which is quite straightforward. Generative phonology postulates underlying segments that differ from their phonetic realization if doing so will allow generalizations that could not otherwise be captured in the grammar […] > > […] alternations among consonants, for example, [s] and [k] in _criticize, criticism_ but _critical, critic_ […] Chomsky and Halle […] call the rule that produces this alternation velar softening […] > > The shortening of _bicycle_ to _bike_ is perfectly predictable from generative theory. _Bicycle_ was learned with an underlying [k], but the surface consonant was [s] because of the softening environment; when the word was shortened, the softening environment was lost and the underlying velar emerged in the surface form. […] > > Robert B. Hausmann, University of Montana > > Editor’s Note: As Hausmann is clearly aware, all previous etymologies of _bike_ have been of the obscurum-per-obscurius variety. Another such possibility is that something like his proposed underlying form was actually used as a spelling pronunciation […] partly based on the “reformed” pronunciation of the classical languages. The Greek etymon of _cycle_ turned up with two _k_s and some other transformations in _Ku Klux (Klan)_ at roughly the same time that _bicycle_ was being borrowed and _bike_ created. I know of no evidence that the double-_k_ pronunciation was ever used for _bicycle_, and the earliest English spelling recorded by the OED is _bysicle_ (1868). However, the respelling as _bicycle_ implies a consciousness of the word’s etymology that could have led others to repronounce it […] Huh. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/39 "2018-05-09T02:46:30Z")
> [@Origins of gendered nouns](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-gendered-nouns/813635/33): > > … [Here’s a pdf which goes into much detail about gender in general and PIE in particular.](http://allegatifac.unipv.it/silvialuraghi/Gender%20FoL.pdf)… > [@Origins of gendered nouns](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-gendered-nouns/813635/39): > > > [@Originally Posted by naita](#): > > > > … [same link as septimus’] … > > Fascinating. > [@septimus](#): > > The same alternation occurs in other words pairs: medicine/medical, criticize/critical, electricity/electrical. (There is also g/j alternation as in allege/allegation.) Although it can’t be a full explanation, speakers may have a high-level model of some consonants with the sound dependent on context (especially the following vowel). > [@Kimstu](#): > > > [@Originally Posted by Ulfreida](#): > > > > … [same example] … > > Su-weet. If there was still any doubt, I’ve now confirmed that most of you have me set to Ignore. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725/40 "2018-05-09T05:22:19Z")
I believe Yogi Bear may have pronounced it “bike-ikle” at least once 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-bike-not-bice/813725.md?page=3)