Linchpin

Definitions: Linchpin

Linchpin

Noun

1. A central cohesive source of support and stability: "faith is his anchor"; "he is the linchpin of this firm".

2. Pin inserted through an axletree to hold a wheel on.

Date "linchpin" was first used: 1370s. (references)

Synonyms: Linchpin

Synonyms: anchor (n), backbone (n), lynchpin (n), mainstay (n). (additional references)

Crosswords: Linchpin

English words defined with "linchpin": anchor ♦ backbone ♦ lynchpin ♦ mainstay. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	Linchpin (reference) Short-Term Wins: The Linchpin of a Change Initiative [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Linchpin [CD-SINGLE] [ENHANCED] [IMPORT] (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Botswana	The SADC Trade Protocol is the linchpin of the regional economic integration process. (references)
	Senegal	APIX was created in June 2000 by incoming President Wade, and is the linchpin of Senegal's foreign investment promotion policy. (references)
	Indonesia	Indonesia remains a linchpin of regional security due to its strategic location astride a number of key international maritime straits. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Linchpin" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Linchpin" is used about 31 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	31	62,296

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "linchpin"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		zabua, kunj (axle pin, dowel, hob, key, peg, picket, pin, pintle, piquet, Spike, spile, spline, tenon, toggle), kopilë, kiavetë. (various references)

Arabic		‏مسمار العجلة, ‏جزء حيوي. (various references)

Bulgarian		съществена част (trunk), чивия на ос, важна част. (various references)

Chinese		制轮楔. (various references)

Czech		zákolník. (various references)

French		pivot, esse. (various references)

German		lünse, stütze (aid, bastion, brace, dole, help, mainstay, pillar, prop, rest, support, sustainer, welfare), achsnagel (axle pin), achsennagel. (various references)

Greek		κεντρικόσ μοχλόσ, καρφίο άξονοσ εμποδίζων τον τροχό να εκφύγει. (various references)

Hebrew		חלק חיוני. (various references)

Hungarian		tengelyszög, összetartó kapocs. (various references)

Italian		acciarino (flint). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		輪留め , 車轄 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		しゃかつ, わどめ. (various references)

Korean		비녀장. (various references)

Manx		yiarn essyl, kibbin (dibble, gad, peg, spike, stake, wooden pin), caag (ingot, stopper). (various references)

Pig Latin		inchpinlay

Portuguese		linhas impressas, chavêta (axle pin, bond, brace, cottar, cotter, cottier, forelock, key, kingpin, pin). (various references)

Romanian		fuzetã (fusee), fus (cone, hasp, journal, mandrel, shaft, spindle, Trunnion), cui de osie. (various references)

Russian		чека (axle pin, axle-pin, cotter, forelock, key, splint). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		čivija (bolt, pin). (various references)

Spanish		pezonera (pin), eje (axis, axle, axletree, hinge, hub, pivot, shaft, spindle). (various references)

Swedish		hjulsprint. (various references)

Thai		เดือยบังคับล้อ. (various references)

Turkish		dingil çivisi, önemli kimse (a big gun, big bug, big gun, big shot, big-timer, bigwig, cordon blue, headliner, heavyweight, important person, it, somebody, someone, topliner, worthy). (various references)

Ukranian		чека (axle pin). (various references)

Vietnamese		chốt sắt hình S, đinh chốt trục xe. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Middle English	1100-1500	lins. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "linchpin": linchpins. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Linchpin" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Inkpin, Linkoping, linkpin. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "linchpin" (pronounced li"nkhpi'n)
3	-p i' n	backspin, kingpin, Lapin, Pippin, tailspin, underpin, underspin.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-h-i-i-l-n-n-p"
	-2 letters: inclip.
	-3 letters: chili, lichi, linin, lipin, nihil, pinch.
	-4 letters: chin, chip, clip, hili, inch, lich, linn, pili.
	-5 letters: chi, hic, hin, hip, ich, inn, lin, lip, nil, nip, phi, pic, pin.
	Words containing the letters "c-h-i-i-l-n-n-p"
	+1 letter: linchpins.
	+2 letters: nephelinic.
	+4 letters: nephelinitic.
	+5 letters: phencyclidine.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.