pedal.
A lever operated by one's foot that is used to control or power a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano.
Meaning & usage
A lever operated by one's foot that is used to control or power a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano.
There are three pedals on manual cars, two on automatics.
A piano usually has two or three pedals.
an orthopedic structure or a footlike part.
An effects unit, especially one designed to be activated by being stepped on.
A stirrup.
The ranks of pipes played from the pedal-board of an organ.
A small organ commonly has only one or two ranks on the pedal.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ped- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *pṓds Proto-Italic *pets Latin pēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin pedālis Italian pedalebor. French pédalebor. English pedal Borrowed from French pédale, itself borrowed from Italian pedale, from Latin pedālis. By surface analysis, ped- + -al.
To operate a pedal attached to a wheel in a continuous circular motion.
to pedal one's loom
To operate a bicycle.
He was out of breath from pedalling up the steep hill.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ped- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *pṓds Proto-Italic *pets Latin pēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin pedālis Italian pedalebor. French pédalebor. English pedal Borrowed from French pédale, itself borrowed from Italian pedale, from Latin pedālis. By surface analysis, ped- + -al.
Of or relating to the foot.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ped- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *pṓds Proto-Italic *pets Latin pēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin pedālislbor. English pedal Learned borrowing from Latin pedālis. Cognate with French pédal (doublet of the pédale mentioned in § Etymology 1). Same surface analysis as in § Etymology 1.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.