dossard

English

WOTD – 1 July 2022

Norwegian professional cyclist Odd Christian Eiking wearing dossard number 202 at the Paris–Nice race in March 2021.

Dossards on the backs of some cyclists at the 2013 Tour de France.

Etymology

Borrowed from French dossard, from dos (“back (of a person)”) (ultimately from Latin dorsum (“back of the body”), further etymology uncertain) + -ard (suffix forming nouns indicating things belonging to or representing particular classes or sorts).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒsɑː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑsɑɹ/
• Hyphenation: dos‧sard

Noun

dossard (plural dossards)

1. (cycle racing) A bib attached to the back of a cyclist's shirt that carries the cyclist's race number.
   • 1979, Robin Magowan, Tour de France: The 75th Anniversary Cycle Race, London: S. Paul, →ISBN, page 31:

     [Bernard] Hinault will also be wearing a 51 dossard, the same number with which Luis Ocana, [Bernard] Thevenet, [Eddy] Merckx, and [Jacques] Anquetil pedalled to victory in their first Tour.

   • 2014, Chris Froome, with David Walsh, “2008: The Tour de France”, in The Climb, London: Viking, →ISBN, page 148:

     We were a platoon of nine carrying the hopes of Team Barloworld through this twenty-one stage counterclockwise yomp around France. Me a mongrel with a Kenyan flag on my dossard and a British passport in my bag.

   • 2014, Richard Williams, “RideLondon–Surrey Classic”, in Ian Cleverley, editor, This Island Race: Rouleur’s Year in the British Isles, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 244:

     Hurricane Bertha—for it was she whose tail was beginning to lash those who had taken the option of a late start and a high dossard number—turned out to be a fickle mistress.

Translations

bib attached to the back of a cyclist’s shirt that carries the cyclist’s race number

• Finnish: selkänumero
• French: dossard (fr) m
• Galician: dorsal (gl) m
• Spanish: dorsal (es) m

Further reading

• glossary of cycling on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

FWOTD – 2 June 2016

Etymology

From dos (“back (of a person)”) +‎ -ard (suffix forming nouns indicating things belonging to or representing particular classes or sorts). Dos is ultimately derived from Latin dorsum (“back of the body”), further etymology uncertain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔ.saʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

dossard m (plural dossards)

1. (sports) bib; (by extension) start number (on a sportsman's shirt)
   • 1995, Philippe Gaboriau, Le Tour de France et le vélo: histoire sociale d'une épopée contemporaine, Editions L'Harmattan:

     On va chercher son dossard en vélo (Où sont les dossards?) dans un café ou une salle des fêtes où les dirigeants du club organisateur se tiennent derrière une table, vérifient les licences et font payer deux ou trois francs le dossard […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (Quebec) pinny (colorful overshirt worn over one's clothes, usually to mark one's team during group activities)

Further reading

• “dossard”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.