fulcrum

See also Fulcrum

English

WOTD – 7 September 2011    

Wikipedia

The triangle is the fulcrum.

Etymology

From Latin fulcrum (“bedpost, foot of a couch”), from fulciō (“prop up, support”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfʌlk.rəm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

fulcrum (plural fulcrums or fulcra)

1. (mechanics) The support about which a lever pivots.
   • It is possible to flick food across the table using your fork as a lever and your finger as a fulcrum.
   • 2010, John Allison, Bad Machinery

     MILDRED: Archimedes said give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I will move the world.

     CHARLOTTE: Yeah she said that twaddle eight or nine times.

   • 2012 March 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 112-3: 

     A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.

Translations

support about which a lever pivots

• Armenian: հենակետ (hy) (henaket) 
• Czech: opěrný bod (cs) m
• Danish: understøttelsespunkt (da) n
• Dutch: draaipunt (nl) n, steunpunt (nl) n
• Esperanto: apogpunkto (eo)
• Finnish: tukipiste (fi)
• French: point d’appui m
• German: Angelpunkt (de) m, Drehpunkt (de) m, Hebelstützpunkt (de) m
• Greek: υπομόχλιο (el) (ypomóchlio) n 
• Hungarian: forgástengely (hu)
• Ido: apog-punto, pivoto

• Italian: fulcro (it) m
• Japanese: 支点 (してん, shiten)
• Norwegian: dreiepunkt (no) n, dreiningspunkt (no) n, hvilepunkt (no) n, omdreiningspunkt (no) n
• Persian: تکیه‌گاه (fa)
• Portuguese: ponto de apoio m, fulcro (pt) m
• Russian: точка опоры (ru) (točka opory)
• Serbo-Croatian: uporište (sh)
• Spanish: pivote m, punto de apoyo m, fulcro m
• Swedish: rotationspunkt (sv)
• Telugu: ఆధారము (te)
• Ukrainian: точка опори (uk) f (točka opory)

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈful.krum/

Noun

fulcrum (genitive fulcrī); n, second declension

1. bedpost
2. foot (of a couch)
3. couch

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	fulcrum	fulcra
genitive	fulcrī	fulcrōrum
dative	fulcrō	fulcrīs
accusative	fulcrum	fulcra
ablative	fulcrō	fulcrīs
vocative	fulcrum	fulcra

Descendants

• English: fulcrum
• French: fulcrum
• Italian: fulcro
• Portuguese: fulcro
• Spanish: fulcro