yellow jersey

English

WOTD – 31 July 2022

Etymology

The Slovenian professional cyclist Tadej Pogačar wearing the yellow jersey (sense 1) in Paris during the final stage of the 2020 Tour de France. Pogačar was the winner of the race.

Calque of French maillot jaune: maillot (“jersey, shirt; vest”) + jaune (“yellow”, adjective).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌjɛləʊ ˈdʒɜːzi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌjɛloʊ ˈdʒɝzi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)zi
• Hyphenation: yel‧low jer‧sey

Noun

yellow jersey (plural yellow jerseys) (cycle racing)

1. Especially in the Tour de France: the yellow shirt worn by the leader of a stage of a cycling race, which is then awarded to the cyclist who wins the race with the fastest overall time.
   • 2022 July 25, Jeremy Whittle, “Marianne Vos takes yellow jersey on second stage of Tour de France Femmes”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 July 2022:

     The evergreen Marianne Vos, a multiple world champion, crowned her illustrious career by taking her first yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes after emphatically winning stage two of the week-long race in Provins.

2. (by extension) A cyclist who wears such a jersey or shirt; hence, the leader of a stage of a cycling race, or the winner of a cycling race.
   • 2012 July 15, Richard Williams, “Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 31 March 2022:

     The timing of the incident raised the question, almost certainly destined to remain unanswered, of whether, having allowed the escapers to pass by unhindered, the culprit had waited specifically for the yellow jersey group before sowing his mischief.

Coordinate terms

• green jersey
• pink jersey
• polka-dot jersey
• red jersey
• red number
• white jersey
• yellow number

 

Derived terms

• yellow jersey on the road

Translations

yellow jersey or shirt worn by the leader of a stage of a cycling race, which is then awarded to the cyclist who wins the race with the fastest overall time

• Arabic: قَمِيص أَصْفَر m (qamīṣ ʔaṣfar)
• Basque: maillot horia
• Belarusian: жо́ўтая ма́йка f (žóŭtaja májka)
• Breton: c'hrez melen m
• Catalan: mallot groc m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黃色領騎衫／黄色领骑衫 (huángsè lǐng qí shān)

• Danish: gule førertrøje c
• Dutch: gele trui f or m
• Finnish: keltapaita, maillot jaune
• French: maillot jaune (fr) m
• Galician: mailló amarelo m
• German: Gelbes Trikot n
• Hungarian: sárga trikó
• Irish: geansaí buí m
• Italian: maglia gialla (it) f
• Japanese: マイヨ・ジョーヌ (maiyo jōnu)
• Latin: tunicula flāva f
• Latvian: dzeltenais krekliņš m
• Luxembourgish: Gielen Trikot
• Macedonian: жолта маичка f (žolta maička)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gul trøye f or m

• Persian: پیراهن زرد (pirâhan-e zard), پیراهن طلایی (pirâhan-e talâyi)
• Polish: żółta koszulka f
• Portuguese: camisa amarela f, camiseta amarela f, camisola amarela f
• Romanian: tricou galben n
• Russian: жёлтая ма́йка f (žóltaja májka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жута ма̏јица f

  Roman: žuta mȁjica f

• Slovak: žlté tričko n
• Slovene: rumena majica f
• Spanish: maillot amarillo m
• Swedish: gul ledartröja c
• Turkish: sarı mayo
• Ukrainian: жо́вта ма́йка f (žóvta májka)
• Welsh: crys melyn m

cyclist who wears such a jersey or shirt; leader of a stage of a cycling race, or the winner of a cycling race

Further reading

• general classification in the Tour de France on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• glossary of cycling on Wikipedia.Wikipedia