20 parole italiane sulla palestra con immagini
A1 Italian hallásgyakorlat · Olasz · kezdőknek számára válogatva
What does “cyclette” mean in Italian?
In Italian, the machine you pedal at the gym without going anywhere is la cyclette. The spelling looks French, but standard French calls it a vélo d’appartement. Italians built this French-sounding word themselves, most likely from a 1950s exercise-bike brand, and it stuck so well that today it is simply the normal Italian word for a stationary bike.
Listen for it in the run of gym words: “La cyclette. La cyclette.” Despite the French-looking -ette ending, this is an Italian invention, a made-up French-sounding word born in Italy, most likely from a stationary-bike model patented by the Carnielli company in the 1950s. English speakers say exercise bike or stationary bike; the French say vélo d’appartement. More technical Italian also offers cicloergometro, but in everyday speech across Italy, cyclette is what you will hear at the gym.