pedal

pedal

See also: pédal, pedál, Pedal, and pedał

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French pédale, Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• (noun, verb) enPR: pĕdʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈpɛdəl/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (adjective) enPR: pēdʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈpiːdəl/ or as the noun

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdəl, -iːdəl
• Homophones: peddle, petal (some dialects)

Noun

pedal (plural pedals)

1. 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.

   the pedal of a loom

2. (medicine) an orthopedic structure or a footlike part.
3. (music) An effects unit, especially one designed to be activated by being stepped on.
4. (equestrianism, humorous) A stirrup.
5. (music) 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.

Derived terms

• backpedal
• brake pedal
• pedal car
• pedal pushers
• soft pedal
• sostenuto pedal
• sustaining pedal

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ped-‎ (0 c, 48 e)

Translations

lever operated by one's foot

Albanian: pedal m Arabic: دَوَّاسَة‎ f (dawwāsa) Armenian: պեդալ (hy) (pedal), ոտնակ (hy) (otnak) Azerbaijani: pedal Belarusian: педа́ль f (pjedálʹ), пэда́ль f (pedálʹ) (Taraškievica) Bengali: প্যাডেল (pẏaḍel) Bulgarian: педа́л m (pedál) Burmese: ခြေနင်း (my) (hkrenang:) Catalan: pedal (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 踏板 (zh) (tàbǎn) (car), 腳蹬子／脚蹬子 (jiǎodēngzi) (bicycle), 腳蹬／脚蹬 (jiǎodēng) Czech: pedál (cs) m Danish: pedal c Dutch: pedaal (nl) m or n Esperanto: pedalo Estonian: pedaal Finnish: poljin (fi), (in instruments) pedaali (fi) French: pédale (fr) f Galician: pedal m Georgian: პედალი (ṗedali) German: Pedal (de) n, Fußhebel m Hebrew: פֵּדָל‎ (he) m (pedál) Hindi: पेडल m (peḍal) Hungarian: pedál (hu) Icelandic: fótstig Ido: pedalo (io) Irish: troitheán (ga) m Italian: pedale (it) m Japanese: ペダル (pedaru) Kazakh: педаль (pedal) Khmer: ឈ្នាន់ (km) (chnŏən) Korean: 페달 (ko) (pedal) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: pedal (ku) Kyrgyz: педаль (pedalʹ) Lao: ເຄື່ອງຖີບ (khư̄ang thīp) Latin: insilia n pl Latvian: pedālis m Lithuanian: pedalas m Macedonian: педа́ла f (pedála) Malay: rakap, pedal Manx: coshal Maori: takahi Mongolian: дөрөө (mn) (döröö), гишгүүр (mn) (gišgüür) Norman: pédale f Norwegian: Bokmål: pedal (no) m Nynorsk: pedal m Pashto: پایډل‎ m (рāyḍál), پيډل‎ m (payḍál) Persian: رکاب‎ (fa) (rekâb), پدال‎ (fa) (pedâl) Polish: pedał (pl) m Portuguese: pedal (pt) m Romanian: pedală (ro) f Russian: педа́ль (ru) f (pedálʹ) Scottish Gaelic: casachan f, troighean m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: педа́ла f Roman: pedála (sh) f Slovak: pedál m Slovene: pedal m Spanish: pedal (es) m Swedish: pedal (sv) c, trampa (sv) c Tajik: педал (pedal) Thai: คันเหยียบ (kan-yìiap) Tibetan: རྐང་རྟེན (rkang rten) Turkish: pedal (tr), ayaklık (tr) Turkmen: pedal Ukrainian: педа́ль f (pedálʹ) Urdu: پیڈل‎ m (peḍal) Uzbek: pedal (uz) Vietnamese: bàn đạp (vi) Vilamovian: pedaoł m

Verb

pedal (third-person singular simple present pedals, present participle (UK) pedalling or (US) pedaling, simple past and past participle (UK) pedalled or (US) pedaled)

1. To operate a pedal attached to a wheel in a continuous circular motion.

   to pedal one's loom

2. To operate a bicycle.

   He was out of breath from pedalling up the steep hill.

Translations

to operate a pedal

Catalan: pedalejar (ca), pedalar (ca) Dutch: trappen (nl) Esperanto: pedali Finnish: polkea (fi) French: pédaler (fr) Galician: pedalear (gl) German: pedalieren (de), in die Pedale treten Ido: pedalagar (io) Irish: troitheánaigh Italian: pedalare (it) Macedonian: педали́ра (pedalíra) Polish: pedałować (pl) Portuguese: pedalar (pt) Romanian: pedala (ro) Russian: педали́ровать (ru) impf (pedalírovatʹ) Spanish: pedalear (es) Swedish: trampa (sv) Ukrainian: педалюва́ти impf (pedaljuváty), педалізува́ти impf or pf (pedalizuváty) Vietnamese: đạp (vi)

Adjective

pedal (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to the foot.

Coordinate terms

• manual, relating to the hand

Translations

of or relating to the foot

Arabic: قَدَمِيّ‎ (qadamiyy) Belarusian: нажны́ (nažný) Bulgarian: но́жен (nóžen) Czech: nožní (cs) French: pédal (fr) German: Fuß- (de) Macedonian: ножен (nožen) Polish: nożny (pl) Portuguese: podal, pedal (pt) Russian: ножно́й (ru) (nožnój) Ukrainian: но́жний (nóžnyj)

References

• “pedal”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “pedal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• padel, padle, paled, plead

---

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /pəˈdal/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /peˈdal/

Noun

pedal m (plural pedals)

1. pedal (lever operated by one’s foot)

Derived terms

• pedalar
• pedalejar

Further reading

• “pedal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

---

Chavacano

Etymology

From Spanish pedal (“pedal”).

Noun

pedal

1. pedal

---

Galician

Etymology

From Latin pedalis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [peˈðal]

Noun

pedal m (plural pedais)

1. pedal

   Synonym: pegueira

References

• “pedal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “pedal” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “pedal” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin pedalis.

Noun

pedal m (definite singular pedalen, indefinite plural pedaler, definite plural pedalene)

1. a pedal

Derived terms

• bremsepedal
• gasspedal

References

• “pedal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin pedalis.

Noun

pedal m (definite singular pedalen, indefinite plural pedalar, definite plural pedalane)

1. a pedal

Derived terms

• bremsepedal
• gasspedal

References

• “pedal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

---

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin pedālis.[1][2]

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /peˈdaw/ [peˈdaʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɨˈdal/ [pɨˈðaɫ]

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: pe‧dal

Noun

pedal m (plural pedais)

1. pedal (lever operated by one’s foot)

Derived terms

• pedalar

Related terms

• pé

Adjective

pedal m or f (plural pedais, not comparable)

1. Synonym of podal

References

1. “pedal” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2023.
2. “pedal” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

---

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pedālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈdal/ [peˈð̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pe‧dal

Noun

pedal m (plural pedales)

1. pedal (lever operated by one’s foot)
2. (colloquial) drunkenness

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:borrachera

Derived terms

• pedalear
• pedalero

Further reading

• “pedal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

---

Swedish

Noun

pedal c

1. pedal; a lever operated by one's foot that is used to control a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano

Declension

Declension of pedal
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	pedal	pedalen	pedaler	pedalerna
Genitive	pedals	pedalens	pedalers	pedalernas

Derived terms

• bromspedal
• cykelpedal
• distpedal
• effektpedal
• fortepedal
• gaspedal
• kopplingspedal
• pianopedal

 

---

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• pidal – sense 1 only

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish pedal.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pe‧dal
• IPA^(key): /peˈdal/, [peˈdal]

Noun

pedál

1. pedal (foot lever)
2. (music) pedal; effects unit

Related terms

• magpedal
• pumedal

Further reading

• “pedal”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2018