Meaning & use
tricycle
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A small vehicle with three wheels that you move by pushing pedals, usually ridden by young children.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a tricycle, two tricycles.
Patterns
- ride a tricycle
- on a tricycle
My little sister got a red tricycle for her third birthday.
He learned to ride a tricycle before he could ride a bicycle.
The children raced their tricycles around the playground.
Word forms
| plural | tricycles |
|---|
Common combinations
- ride a tricycle
- She loves to ride her tricycle in the park.
- pedal a tricycle
- The toddler pedaled the tricycle slowly down the path.
- child's tricycle
- A child's tricycle was left in the driveway.
- tricycle race
- The school fair had a tricycle race for the kids.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trike
- Informal short form; common in everyday speech, especially among children.
Word family
- tricyclist noun
- A person who rides a tricycle, especially an adult.
Commonly confused: tricycle or bicycle? tricycle or trike?
tricycle vs bicycle
A bicycle has two wheels, while a tricycle has three.
tricycle vs trike
Trike is an informal short form of tricycle, but it can also refer to a three-wheeled motorcycle.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'tricycle' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A tricycle is a small pedal vehicle for children, so 'pedaled her tricycle around the yard' fits. The other options describe adult or motorized transport, which is not typical for a tricycle.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tricycle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.