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.