# cycle

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈsaɪ.kəl/ · frequency rank #2,477

## Definitions
1. An interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.
2. A complete rotation of anything.
3. A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.
4. The members of the sequence formed by such a process.
5. A series of poems, songs or other works of art, typically longer than a trilogy.
6. A programme on a washing machine, dishwasher, or other such device.
7. A single, a double, a triple, and a home run hit by the same player in the same game.
8. A closed walk or path, with or without repeated vertices allowed.
9. A chain whose boundary is zero.
10. An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres.
11. An age; a long period of time.
12. An orderly list for a given time; a calendar.
13. One entire round in a circle or a spire.
14. A discharge of a taser.
15. One take-off and landing of an aircraft, referring to a pressurisation cycle which places stresses on the fuselage.
16. A scheduled period of time of weeks or months wherein a performance-enhancing substance or, by extension, supplement is applied, to be followed by another one where it is not or the dosage is lower.
17. A hertz; cycle per second.

## Etymology
From Middle English cicle (“fixed length period of years”), from Late Latin cyclus, from Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”), from Proto-Hellenic *kúklos, *kʷókʷlos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos (“circle, wheel”).
Doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cyclus, kike, and wheel (see there for more).

## Easily confused with
- **cycles** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cycle-vs-cycles)
- **cyclic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cycle-vs-cyclic)
- **cycled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cycle-vs-cycled)
- **cyclone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cycle-vs-cyclone)
- **cole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cole-vs-cycle)
- **cable** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cable-vs-cycle)
- **Chile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/chile-vs-cycle)
- **cache** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cache-vs-cycle)
- **Coyle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coyle-vs-cycle)
- **circle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/circle-vs-cycle)
- **Cecile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cecile-vs-cycle)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ccycle`, `ccyle`, `cyccle`, `cycel`, `cyclle`, `cylce`, `cyycle`, `yccle`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cycle