C1 · 37 words

Cycling

From the right tyre pressure to reporting a stolen bike.

Die Nabenschaltung, hub gears, is built on die Nabe, the hub, and English has kept the same word without most of its speakers noticing. The old English name for the centre of a wheel is nave, from Old English nafu, and it is German Nabe in another spelling. The nave of a church only sounds the same: that one comes from Latin navis, a ship. The wheel word has a closer relative in both languages, the one for the middle of the body — der Nabel and navel — and etymologists trace hub and navel back to a single root: each is the point that everything else is arranged around. The German word is still in daily use where the English one retired. Der Nabendynamo sits inside the front hub and makes the light, and die Nabenschaltung hides its gears inside the rear one, sealed away from rain and grit.

The words

Verb (3)

aufpumpento pump upVerbC1

Vor der Tour hatte er die Reifen auf vier Bar aufgepumpt.He had pumped the tyres up to four bar before the ride.

Separable: pumpt auf, aufgepumpt.

nachstellento adjust (brakes or gears)VerbC1

Der Bremshebel ließ sich fast bis zum Lenker ziehen, also hat die Werkstatt die Bremse nachgestellt.The brake lever came almost back to the handlebar, so the workshop adjusted the brake.

Separable: stellt nach, nachgestellt.

anschließento lock (a bike) to somethingVerbC1

Wer sein Rad nur abschließt und nicht an einen festen Gegenstand anschließt, dem trägt man es einfach unter dem Arm davon.If you only lock your bike and do not lock it to something fixed, someone will simply carry it off under their arm.

Separable: schließt an, angeschlossen; an + accusative. abschließen only locks the bike itself.

This list belongs to Getting around and going away — 18 lists and 680 words that can also be practised as a whole.

Practise this list

Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 37 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.