Are bicycles gendered in your language based on the frame type?

30 comments

1. To no-ones surprise, we do the same in Norway. Although they’re both male nouns.

2. Yes, we also make that distinction in Dutch. Old-timey versions of those bikes are also called grandma and grandpa bikes respectively. Grandma bikes in particular are highly coveted.

3. Yeah, dámské kolo, lady’s bike, and pánské kolo, gentleman’s bike, but both are gramatically neutrum as kolo is the verb decidiing gramatical gender and kolo is (it) neutrum.

4. Yes, Germany genders as well. Damenrad vs Herrenrad. Both are grammatically neutral.

5. No because we have no *compound* names in the Germanic style. A bicycle is always feminine. Back in the day you added the specification when needed (‘a bicycle for ladies’, with no top bar).

   Nowadays the frame and build are referred to as per the use (mountain, cross (BMX), race, urban (or *stroller* bike)), also added after if needed (quiero una bicicleta de montaña = I want a mountain bike).

6. I don’t think so, or I’m not aware. We do have several words with different genders, but they’re the same to me

   Edit : I missed the point lol. So no, it’s just the very equivalent for bicycle

7. Not really, any bike is just a bike. But if it has a low step frame we can say “женский велосипед” (female bike).

8. in french they were related to the rider’s gender, but it’s a very old-fashioned way to describe the frame: women don’t wear dresses anymore and the lower bar is simpler and safer to use. The “cadre bas” is standard when using the bike as an urban vehicle, and i’ve mostly heard of these bikes as “vélo de ville” (city bicycles)

   the “cadre diamant” is still standard for sport and mountain bike, it feels more solid and it’s easier to maintain the brakes. I guess these sports are masculine so men still use these frames more?

   I prefer the “cadre trapèze” though, it’s as confortable to exit as the low-cut frame, but it’s easier to secure when i park it

9. A bicycle is called bicikel, but mostly called kolo which literally means wheel. Bicikel is a masculine noun, while kolo is neutral.

   Men’s bike is called moško kolo, and the women’s is žensko kolo. Could also be moški bicikel and ženski bicikel, but in stores it is usually kolo instead of bicikel.

   The difference is mainly based on the frame type, like you said.

   Edit: bicikel is actually a colloquial, regional term, kolo is the correct one, my bad.

10. No. A bicycle is always a feminine noun “Bicicleta”.

    There are many types of bikes, including “bicicleta de senhora” or a bicycle for ladies, which will have a different frame shape. There isn’t an equivalent for men.

11. We also gender bikes in Denmark as damecykler and herrecykler.

12. Yes, we differentiate between male and female bicycles although the bicycle is always gendered as masculine. Low-cut frame bicycle is called **_ženski bicikl_** (Female bicycle) and the one with the center bar is **_muški bicikl_** (Men bicycle).

13. As far as I know, we don’t make such distinctions. Our official word for any bicycle is “велосипед” (velosiped) it’s a male grammatical gender noun but it’s not used much in everyday speech. More so in catalogues and such.

    The everyday word we use is “колело” (kolelo) and it literally means “a wheel”. It’s a neuter grammatical gender noun.

14. Then you also have the Army with their silly names -> [LTAC](https://dms-cf-01.dimu.org/image/04TzRRBTFN?dimension=1200×1200) – Lätt Terränggående AttackCykel (Light offroad attack bike).

15. In Italian ‘bicicletta’ is always feminine, only the adjective ‘da uomo’ (for man) ‘da donna’ (for woman) changes.

16. You can call low-cut frames “naisten polkupyörä” (women’s bicycle) and the ones with a center bar “miesten polkupyörä” (men’s bicycle).

    Old, low-cut framed bikes are also called “mummopyörä” (grandma bike) and they have been especially popular with younger people.

17. Yes, although it really doesn’t matter that much and old people like to use the female frame because it’s much easier for them to get up on.

18. We like to add words like womens bicycle (moteriškas dviratis) and mens bicycle (vyriškas dviratis) according to frames shape.

19. The one in your picture is known as a “ladies bicycle” although if you try to buy one, it’s often listed as “step-through bicycle.” I have one – I love it!

20. Yep, žensko/moško kolo. Kolo itself is a neuter noun.

21. In Poland we have damka (or holenderka) for low-cut frame. Bike with top tube is just bike (rower).

22. Bike frames are literally made either for males or females. It has nothing to do with language. It’s because women used to always wear skirts and needed the bar to be lowered.

23. Hi I’m from Venezuela and we normally used the word “una sifrinita” in reference to a bicycle for a lady and we use the word “bicicleta” bicycle for a regular 🤔

24. No, in the sense that we have no grammatical gender.

    Yes, in the sense that bikes with low-cut frames are called women’s bikes (női bicikli) and ones with a center bar are called men’s bikes (férfi bicikli).

    Although, this kind naming is considered outdated, people nowadays just buy frames that they find comfortable.

25. Yes, and being a woman, I have been riding “men’s” since I am 16 or so. Women’s are lower quality and less stable. So unless you have a hip issue there is no reason to get something crappy like that.

26. yes but most dudes take women bike because its easy to hop on and off, women take men bike off road because they are more sturdy

    yes theres female and male frames

27. Polish has “rowery damskie” which are like the one you linked, but AFAIK no “rowery męskie” (men bikes). Although google gives some results, I’ve never ever heard of such thing, which makes me think they’re just marketing them this way

28. Kind of. Bicycle in general is *rower* (from Rover brand), which is masculine. But specific woman-framed ones can be called *damka* (‘little lady’), which is feminine, albeit I think it’s a little less used nowadays (word, not type). And there’s no “male frame” word.

29. There are no genders whatsoever in Hungarian so no.
    The funny way to refer to them is a “wire donkey” of “iron donkey.”

30. In Portuguese they are all bicicleta which is a female word.

    The bike with the low bar are indeed considered Lady’s Bikes (Bicicleta de Senhora).