Pedal

Look up pedal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A pedal (from the Latin pes, pedis, meaning 'foot') is a lever activated by one's foot, sometimes called a "foot pedal" (but all pedals are used by a foot). It may specifically refer to:

Transport

• Pedals in road vehicles, see Car controls#Pedals
• Bicycle pedal, any set of levers which drive the rotation of a geartrain
• Pedalo, a small boat, usually used for recreational purposes, powered by pedals
• Rudder pedals on aircraft, see Rudder#Aircraft rudders
• Pedals (The Nottingham Cycling Campaign), a campaign group in Nottingham, England

Music

• Piano pedals, which alter the sound produced by the instrument
• Pedal keyboard, a musical keyboard operated by the player's feet
• Pedal harp, a modern orchestral harp with pedals used to change the tuning of its strings
• Effects pedal, used commonly for electric guitars
• Pedal point, a type of nonchord tone, usually in the bass
• Pedal tone, a fundamental tone played on brass instruments
• Bass drum pedal, which eases simultaneous use of the bass and snare

Other uses

Electronic equipment:

• Foot pedals are often used to control playback in transcribers used in medical transcription
• Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse

Geometry:

• Pedal triangle, a triangle obtained by projecting a point onto the sides of a triangle
• Pedal curve, a curve derived by construction from a given curve
• The use on a pedal bin