pellis

skin, pelt

1 / 1

A motorcycle with two clearly separate seats, second passenger seat directly behind rider's saddle, no rider needed.

noun

pillion

PIL-ee-un/pˈɪljʌn/

A seat behind the main rider on a motorcycle or horse.

Etymology

pillionLatinskin, pelt

Latin pellis, “skin” or “pelt,” underlies this Celtic-origin word for a light saddle. Its meaning expanded to a pad behind a saddle for a second person—the seating arrangement preserved in the cycle sense.

Full entry

Related word entries

pillion