Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to:

Anthropology and social sciences

Cyclic history Social cycle theories are among the earliest social theories in sociology. Unlike the theory of social evolutionism, which views the evolution of society and human history as progressing in some new, unique direction(s), sociological cycle theo ...

, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in social sciences **

Business cycle Business cycles are intervals of general expansion followed by recession in economic performance. The changes in economic activity that characterize business cycles have important implications for the welfare of the general population, governmen ...

, the downward and upward movement of gross domestic product (GDP) around its ostensible, long-term growth trend

Arts, entertainment, and media

Films

* ''Cycle'' (2008 film), a Malayalam film * ''Cycle'' (2017 film), a Marathi film

Literature

* ''Cycle'' (magazine), an American motorcycling enthusiast magazine *

Literary cycle A literary cycle is a group of stories focused on common figures, often (though not necessarily) based on mythical figures or loosely on historical ones. Cycles which deal with an entire country are sometimes referred to as matters. A fictional c ...

, a group of stories focused on common figures

Music

Musical terminology

Cycle (music) In music, a cycle can be several things. Acoustically, it is one complete vibration, the base unit of Hertz being one cycle per second. Theoretically, an interval cycle is a collection of pitch classes created by a sequence of identical intervals. ...

, a set of musical pieces that belong together ** Cyclic form, a technique of construction involving multiple sections or movements **

Interval cycle In music, an interval cycle is a set (music), collection of pitch classes created from a sequence of the same interval class.Whittall, Arnold. 2008. ''The Cambridge Introduction to Serialism'', p. 273-74. New York: Cambridge University Press. (pbk) ...

, a collection of pitch classes generated from a sequence of the same interval class **

Song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...

, individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit

Albums

* ''Cycle'' (album), a 1965 album by the Paul Horn Quintet * ''Cycle'', a 2003 album by Merzbow * ''Cycle'', a 2014 album by

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative and virtuosic electric guitar playing. Buckethead's extensive solo discography currentl ...

* ''Cycles'' (Cartel album), 2009 * ''Cycles'' (David Darling album), 1981 * ''Cycles'' (The Doobie Brothers album), 1989 * ''Cycles'' (Frank Sinatra album), 1968 * ''Cycles'' (Redbone album), 1977 * ''Cycles'', a 2021 album by Sam Teskey

Songs

* "Cycles", a 1968 song by Frank Sinatra on his album '' Cycles'' * "Cycles" (song), a 2018 song by Tove Lo * "Cycle" an interlude by Beck from ''

Morning Phase ''Morning Phase'' is the twelfth studio album by American singer Beck. The album was released in February 2014 by his new label, Capitol Records. According to a press release, ''Morning Phase'' is a "companion piece" to Beck's 2002 album '' Sea ...

'', 2014

Science, technology, and mathematics

Biology

Cycle (gene) ''Cycle'' (''cyc'') is a gene in ''Drosophila melanogaster'' that encodes the CYCLE protein (CYC). The ''Cycle'' gene ''(''c''yc)'' is expressed in a variety of cell types in a circadian manner. It is involved in controlling both the sleep-wa ...

, a gene in Drosophila melanogaster that encodes the CYCLE protein *

Cyclic flower A cyclic flower is a flower type formed out of a series of whorls; sets of identical organs attached around the axis at the same point. Most flowers consist of a single whorl of sepals termed a calyx; a single whorl of petals termed a corolla; ...

, in botany, one way in which flower parts may be arranged *

Menstrual cycle The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that makes pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eg ...

Computing

* Cycles, a render engine for the software Blender *

Instruction cycle The instruction cycle (also known as the fetch–decode–execute cycle, or simply the fetch–execute cycle) is the cycle that the central processing unit (CPU) follows from boot-up until the computer has shut down in order to process instructions ...

, the time period during which a computer processes a machine language instruction *

Reference cycle In computer science, reference counting is a programming technique of storing the number of Reference (computer science), references, Pointer (computer programming), pointers, or Handle (computing), handles to a resource, such as an object, a bl ...

, where a software object refers directly or indirectly to itself

Mathematics

Cycle (algebraic topology) In algebraic topology, a -chain is a formal linear combination of the -cells in a cell complex. In simplicial complexes (respectively, cubical complexes), -chains are combinations of -simplices (respectively, -cubes), but not necessarily conn ...

, a simplicial chain with 0 boundary *

Cycle (graph theory) In graph theory, a cycle in a graph is a non-empty trail in which only the first and last vertices are equal. A directed cycle in a directed graph is a non-empty directed trail in which only the first and last vertices are equal. A graph wit ...

, a nontrivial path in a graph from a node to itself **

Cycle graph In graph theory, a cycle graph or circular graph is a graph that consists of a single cycle, or in other words, some number of vertices (at least 3, if the graph is simple) connected in a closed chain. The cycle graph with vertices is called ...

, a graph that is itself a cycle ** Cycle matroid, a matroid derived from the cycle structure of a graph * Cycle (sequence), a sequence with repeating values ** Cycle detection, the algorithmic problem of detecting repetitions in sequences generated by iterated functions * Cycle, a set equipped with a cyclic order **

Necklace (combinatorics) In combinatorics, a ''k''-ary necklace of length ''n'' is an equivalence class of ''n''-character strings over an alphabet of size ''k'', taking all rotations as equivalent. It represents a structure with ''n'' circularly connected beads whic ...

, an equivalence classes of cyclically ordered sequences of symbols modulo certain symmetries * Cyclic (mathematics), a list of mathematics articles with "cyclic" in the title *

Cyclic group In abstract algebra, a cyclic group or monogenous group is a Group (mathematics), group, denoted C_n (also frequently \Z_n or Z_n, not to be confused with the commutative ring of P-adic number, -adic numbers), that is Generating set of a group, ge ...

, a group generated by a single element *

Cyclic permutation In mathematics, and in particular in group theory, a cyclic permutation is a permutation consisting of a single cycle. In some cases, cyclic permutations are referred to as cycles; if a cyclic permutation has ''k'' elements, it may be called a ''k ...

, a basic permutation (all permutations are products of cycles)

Other uses in science and technology

Cycle (angular unit) The turn (symbol tr or pla) is a unit of plane angle measurement that is the measure of a complete angle—the angle subtended by a complete circle at its center. One turn is equal to radians, 360 degrees or 400 gradians. As ...

, a unit of plane angle or rotation * Charge cycle, charging and discharging a rechargeable battery *

Thermodynamic cycle A thermodynamic cycle consists of linked sequences of thermodynamic processes that involve heat transfer, transfer of heat and work (physics), work into and out of the system, while varying pressure, temperature, and other state variables within t ...

, a sequence of processes that transfer heat and work into and out of a system * Wave cycle, the repeatable part of a periodic wave * Cyclic, a primary flight control for helicopters *

Cyclic compound A cyclic compound (or ring compound) is a term for a compound in the field of chemistry in which one or more series of atoms in the compound is connected to form a ring. Rings may vary in size from three to many atoms, and include examples where ...

* ''Cycle'' in

cycle per second The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the ''hertz'' (Hz). Cycles per second may be denoted by c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just "cycles" (Cyc., Cy., C, or c). The term comes from repetitive p ...

, which is a unit of frequency (rate of repetition) ** A period in

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...

Vehicles

Bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

Motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

Quadricycle The Quadricycle was an early form of automobile. Earliest models were propelled by a small steam engine, then designers switched to early internal combustion engines as they became available. The word is derived from the fact that it had four ...

Tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a Human-powered transport, human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) Three-wheeler, three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for pa ...

Unicycle A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is prac ...

Other uses

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, a sport *

Cycle (baseball) In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hit (baseball), hits a single (baseball), single, a double (baseball), double, a triple (baseball), triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that ...

, a single, double, triple, and home run (in any order) by the same player in one game * Cycle, North Carolina, a community in the United States