Meanings
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA type of bicycle popular in the 19th century, with the front wheel far larger than the rear one.
Origin
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.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 前輪大後輪小的自行車 /前轮大后轮小的自行车
- 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
- væltepeterbicycle
Dutch hoge bi
- hoge bibicycle
Finnish velosipedi
- velosipedibicycle
French grand-bi
- grand-bibicycle
German Hochrad
- Hochradbicycle
Hungarian velocipéd
- velocipédbicycle
Norwegian Bokmål veltepetter, velosiped
- veltepetterbicycle
- velosipedbicycle
Polish bicykl
- bicyklbicycle
Portuguese biciclo
- biciclobicycle
Russian пе́нни-фа́ртинг
- пе́нни-фа́ртинг (pénni-fárting)bicycle
Spanish biciclo
- biciclobicycle
Swedish höghjuling
- höghjulingbicycle
Turkish velosipet
- velosipetbicycle
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with penny farthing
All rhymes →Cite this entry
penny farthing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penny%20farthing
“penny farthing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penny%20farthing. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “penny farthing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/penny%20farthing.
Source: penny farthing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.