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by dorilama 1201 days ago
I would say borrow from latin and greek: bi- from latin bi- meaning twice [0] cycle from greek kyklos meaning wheel [1]

[0]https://www.etymonline.com/word/bi-?ref=etymonline_crossrefe... [1]https://www.etymonline.com/word/bicycle

1 comments

But that’s only because French (but also English) coin words by mixing latin and greek (and making the spelling more French). The modern Greek word is completely different.
Many languages in Europe derive from Latin and ancient Greek, that does not mean that the english bicycle derives from the French word.

Also there were no bicycles in ancient Grece, that's why the word is different in modern Greek, but kyklos is still a greek word with the same meaning.