Language Arts In this article, "Pedal vs. Peddle," we will look at the meaning of the easily confused words "pedal" and "peddle." Learn when to use each and tricks to remember the differences between "pedal" and "peddle."

Mr. Gorman pedals his bike around the neighborhood in order to peddle fresh produce. To clarify the difference between pedal and peddle we have to get not to the heart of the matter, as in so many cases, but to the foot of the matter!

Peddle

The word peddle is a back-formation. Whereas most words are made from other words by adding affixes (prefixes and suffixes), back-formations are newly minted words that are formed by removing an affix or letters that are mistakenly identified as affixes from existing words. Examples of back-formation include baby-sit which was derived by back-formation from babysitter and pea, which was created by back-formation from pease, even though the s in pease is not a plural ending. So, in a similar way, peddle was formed from peddler.

So we go back to peddler. Peddler is thought to be an alternative of peddere coming through the Medieval Latin form pedarius, meaning “bearer of the crosier” and going back to the Latin root ped meaning “foot.” A peddler is a traveling salesperson, usually door-to-door, whose original transportation, as you can tell from the etymology, was on foot. Interestingly, pedlar is an alternative spelling of peddler, but pedal is not an alternative spelling of peddle.

Returning to peddle, we find its current use as a transitive and intransitive verb relating, more or less closely to what a peddler does. Both the transitive and intransitive forms can mean “to travel and sell (wares).” Additionally, the transitive form can be used for the illicit sale of narcotics, as well as a figurative use meaning “to spread, promote, or disseminate.” An additional meaning of the intransitive verb is “to concern oneself with trifles.” Here are examples:

Transitive:

The picture book Caps for Sale is about a man who peddles caps.

The police are cracking down on folks who peddle hydrocodone.

Intransitive:

In the opera HMS Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan, Buttercup peddles during her opening song.

For some people, peddle, piddle, and putter are synonyms meaning “wasting time with minutiae.”

Peddle is pronounced /PEH duhl/ or /PEH d'l/. The difference is rather subtle.

Pedal

Pedal is a noun, an adjective, and a transitive and intransitive verb. As a noun it refers to a foot operated lever that may appear on such varied tools as a loom, a sewing machine, or keyboard instruments such as the piano and organ. It can also refer to the set of two footrests attached to a crank to power bicycles and similar devices. In music it can refer to a pedal tone or pedal point. As an adjective, it refers to a pedal or to something that is footlike. As an intransitive verb it means generally to use pedals or specifically to operate a bicycle. As a transitive verb, it means to operate the pedal(s) of a device.

Owen was seated at the organ, practicing with only the pedals.

Lucinda sprayed WD-40 on her bicycle pedals to keep them lubricated.

The concerto called for pedal tones in the trombone.

Janelle pedals as fast as she can and then glides down the road effortlessly.

Elliot pedaled his tricycle with amazing dexterity and control, backing it up to turn around and steering carefully around obstacles.

Pedal came into English through the French pédale from Italian and ultimately from Latin pedalis and ped, meaning “foot.” It is pronounced /PEH d'l/.

Distinguishing Peddle and Pedal

The key differences between the two words are the two d's in peddle, the consonant-vowel pattern at the end of peddle vs. the vowel-consonant pattern at the end of pedal and the e vs. the a in the final syllable. You can help yourself distinguish them by using this visual image:

Picture two people: one is peddling. He is walking on two feet and he is selling Easter eggs. Two feet connect to the two d's and the eggs are a reminder that peddle has only the vowel e.

The other person is driving an automobile. It is, in fact, an Audi, and it's an automatic. Those a's are all to recall the a in pedal. With an automatic, of course, he is only using one foot on the pedals, and that's to remind you that there's only one d in pedal.