Word.ws English Dictionary

keirin

keirin noun: a form of track cycling originating in Japan, where riders must initially race behind a motorised pace-setter, the derny.

Noun

keirin (countable and uncountable, plural keirins)

  1. (cycle racing) A form of track cycling originating in Japan, where riders must initially race behind a motorised pace-setter, the derny.
    • The keirin is one of the few track cycling events not originating in the West, having been developed in Japan. […] Keirin is extrememly popular in Japan, in particular because of gambling on the races.2011, Bill Mallon, Jeroen Heijmans, Historical Dictionary of Cycling, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 113
    • Japan, however, has developed the distinctive cycling subculture of Keirin racing. Launched in Japanese velodromes in 1948 as a state regulated system designed to cream-off a percentage of stake money to support Japan's newly reconstituted bicycle industry […]2016, Glen Norcliffe, Critical Geographies of Cycling: History, Political Economy and Culture, Routledge, →ISBN

Forms of keirin

pluralkeirins

Origin of keirin

From Japanese 競輪 (keirin, “racing cycles”).

Questions about keirin

What does keirin mean?
Keirin means a form of track cycling originating in Japan, where riders must initially race behind a motorised pace-setter, the derny.
What part of speech is keirin?
Keirin is a noun.
What is the plural of keirin?
The plural of keirin is keirins.

Words near keirin in the dictionary

  1. Keiran
  2. Keiraville
  3. Keirencha
  4. keiretsu
  5. keiretsus
  6. keirin
  7. keirins
  8. Keirn
  9. Keirns
  10. keirospasm
  11. keirs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keirin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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