Phrase guide

penny farthing

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)ðɪŋ

1

noun

Meaning 1

A type of bicycle popular in the 19th century, with the front wheel far larger than the rear one.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

A reference to the relative sizes of the two wheels resembling that of the old British coins of the same name. Retronym for ordinary bicycle, coined after the invention of the safety bicycle that has since become the standard type of bicycle.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 前輪大後輪小的自行車 /前轮大后轮小的自行车 (qiánlún dà hòulún xiǎo de zìxíngchē) — bicycle
  • Danish: væltepeter — bicycle
  • Dutch: hoge bi — bicycle
  • Finnish: velosipedi — bicycle
  • French: grand-bi — bicycle
  • German: Hochrad — bicycle
  • Hungarian: velocipéd — bicycle
  • Ido: biciklego — bicycle
  • Norwegian Bokmål: veltepetter — bicycle
  • Norwegian Bokmål: velosiped — bicycle
  • Polish: bicykl — bicycle
  • Portuguese: biciclo — bicycle
  • Russian: пе́нни-фа́ртинг (pénni-fárting) — bicycle
  • Spanish: biciclo — bicycle
  • Swedish: höghjuling — bicycle
  • Turkish: velosipet — bicycle