Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

linchpin

/ˈlɪnt͡ʃˌpɪn/ noun, verb

Forms linchpins linchpinning linchpinned linch-pin lynchpin lynch-pin link-pin lin-pin

  1. noun A pin inserted through holes at the end of an axle or shaft, so as to secure a wheel or shaft-mounted device.
  2. noun (figuratively) A central cohesive source of stability and security; a person or thing that is critical to a system or organisation.
  3. verb (ambitransitive) To adopt as, or serve as, a central cohesive source of stability and security.

Synonyms

axlepin keystone anchor mainstay backbone lynchpin

Etymology

From Middle English lynspin, compound of lins (“axletree”) and pin, from Old English lynis (“lynchpin”), from Proto-West Germanic *lunis, from Proto-Germanic *lunaz – compare German Lünse and Dutch luns – from Proto-Indo-European. Possible further cognates are Welsh olwyn (“wheel”), Old Armenian ողն (ołn, “back; spine, backbone”) and Sanskrit आणि (āṇí, “lynchpin”). Figurative use attested from the mid-20th century.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A pin used to prevent the wheel of a vehicle from sliding off the axletree.

Etymology [AS. lynis the axletree; akin to D. luns linchpin, OS. lunisa, LG. lunse, G. lünse, OHG. lun peg, bolt.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “linchpin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “linchpin” (best matches first).