- tricycle
- 1828, "three-wheeled horse-drawn carriage," from Fr. tricycle (1827), from tri- + cycle. The pedal-powered version is first attested 1868. Short form trike (on the model of bike) is attested from 1883.
- velocipede
- 1819, "wheeled vehicle propelled by the feet on the ground," from Fr. vélocipède, from L. velox (gen. velocis) "swift" + pedem, acc. of pes "foot." Applied to an early kind of bicycle or tricycle in 1849.
- bicycle
- 1868, coined from bi- "two" + Gk. kyklos "circle, wheel" (see cycle), on the pattern of tricycle; both the word and the vehicle superseding earlier velocipede. Probably not from French, though often said to be. The assumption apparently is because Pierre Lallement, employee of a French carriage works, improved Macmillan's 1839 pedal velocipede in 1865 and took the invention to America. See also pennyfarthing.
"That ne plus ultra of snobbishness -- bicyclism." [1876]