How the oldest word for “foot” gave us organ pedals, piano pedals, bicycle pedals and pedestrians. Tap ▶ to hear each step read aloud.
Proto-Indo-European *pṓds meant foot. It walked into almost every European language: English foot, German Fuß, Latin pēs (French pied), Greek poús.
In Latin, a foot was pēs, and “of the foot” was pedis. From it came pedālis: for the foot, a foot long.
Church organs got a row of big wooden keys played with the feet. In Italian they were pedali. English took pedal in the 1600s for these foot keys.
Pianos got pedals too: one to make the notes ring on, one to make them soft.
From the soft pedal comes to soft-pedal: to make something sound less important. From cycling, to backpedal: to change your story.
In the 1860s, the first bicycles, called velocipedes (“fast feet”), got pedals on the front wheel. Soon to pedal meant to push a bicycle with your feet.
Examples: pedal faster!
, a pedal bin
, a pedalo
on a lake.
The same foot walks through many words:
| pedestrian | on foot |
| pedestal | the foot of a statue |
| expedition | “freeing the feet”: a journey |
| octopus, tripod, podium | Greek pous, foot |
Pied, pédale, piéton and pédicure are the same Latin foot.
“A pedal is a key for your foot.”