Derailleur gears operates the lever while pedalling, the change in cable tension moves the chain-guide from side to side, "derailing" the chain onto different sprockets. For more information about the choice of particular gear ratios and sprocket sizes, see Bicycle gearing. "Derailleur" is a French word, spelled "dérailleur" in French, derived from the derailment of a train from its tracks. Its first recorded use was 1930. At least one notable bicycle industry author has attempted to promote the anglicized spelling of "derailer". As of 2013, however, neither Merriam-Webster nor the Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for "derailer". Various derailleur systems were
Longest word in French Longest word in French This article lists some of the longest words in the French language. The longest word listed below, "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobie" (36 letters) is the fear (or phobia) of long words. The word is formed from the Latin word "sesquipedalia" (singular "sesquipedalis"), which the Ancient Roman poet Horace used in "Ars Poetica" to describe excessively long words; literally, it means "a foot-and-a-half long". The length of the word "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobie" is embellished with the prefix "hippopotomonstro" ("monster hippopotamus"), which is a characterisation of the feared words. Like the other phobias in the list, "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobie" can be pluralised by adding the