cycle
n. countablen. a series of events that happen again and again in the same order. You can use it to describe things like the seasons or how a machine works.
n. a sequence of events or phenomena that recur regularly and lead back to the starting point. Often used to describe biological, mechanical, or economic patterns.
The water cycle explains how rain falls and then returns to the sky.
The business cycle includes periods of growth followed by periods where the economy slows down.
Understanding the life cycle of local insects is essential for farmers who want to protect their crops without using too many chemicals.
From Middle English cicle (“fixed length period of years”), from Late Latin cyclus, from Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”), from Proto-Hellenic kúklos, kʷókʷlos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos (“circle, wheel”). Doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cyclus, kike, and wheel (see there for more).
From -cycle (in bicycle, monocycle, and tricycle), perhaps associated with etymology 1. Compare French cycle in the same sense. The verb is either from the noun or a clipping of bicycle (verb).
Often paired with 'of' to describe the nature of the repetition, such as 'a cycle of violence' or 'the cycle of the seasons'.