fulcrum

See also: Fulcrum

English

WOTD – 7 September 2011

English Wikipedia has an article on:

lever, of which a fulcrum is a part

Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfʊlk.ɹəm/, /ˈfʌlk.ɹəm/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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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, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, pages 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.

2. (figurative) A crux or pivot; a central point.
   • 2006, Rebecca Langlands, Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome, page 119:

     By this point the fulcrum of concern is the stuprum of men upon men, described as more prevalent than that upon women.

   • 2021 March 31, Phil McNulty, “England 2-1 Poland: What shape are Gareth Southgate's side in?”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Chelsea's Mason Mount is a top-class talent while West Ham midfielder Declan Rice has moved his game on to another level this season and will be the fulcrum of England's midfield this summer.

Related terms

• fulcral

Translations

support about which a lever pivots

Armenian: հենակետ (hy) (henaket) Belarusian: кропка апоры f (krópka apóry) Bulgarian: опорна точка f (oporna točka) Catalan: fulcre (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 支點 / 支点 (zh) (zhīdiǎn) Czech: opěrný bod m Danish: understøttelsespunkt n Dutch: draaipunt (nl) n, steunpunt (nl) n Esperanto: apogpunkto Finnish: tukipiste French: point d'appui (fr) m Galician: pinze m, forra f Georgian: (please verify) საყრდენი წერტილი (saq̇rdeni c̣erṭili) German: Angelpunkt (de) m, Drehpunkt m, Hebelstützpunkt m, Lager (de) n, Drehachse (de) f, Stützpunkt (de) m, Gelenkpunkt m, Stütze (de) f Greek: υπομόχλιο (el) n (ypomóchlio) Ancient Greek: ὑπομόχλιον (hupomókhlion) Hungarian: forgáspont (hu), forgástengely (hu) sg Ido: apog-punto (io), pivoto (io) Indonesian: fulkrum, titik tumpu (id) Irish: borradh, buthal Italian: fulcro (it) m Japanese: 支点 (ja) (してん, shiten) Latin: fulcrum n Macedonian: ослонец m (oslonec) Malay: sangga tuas, fulkrum Maori: kaurori Norwegian: dreiepunkt n, dreiningspunkt n, hvilepunkt n, omdreiningspunkt n Persian: تکیه‌گاه Polish: punkt podparcia m Portuguese: fulcro (pt) m, ponto de apoio m Romanian: punct de sprijin n Russian: то́чка опо́ры (ru) f (tóčka opóry) Serbo-Croatian: uporište (sh) n Spanish: pivote (es) m, punto de apoyo m, fulcro (es) m, hipomoclio m Swedish: rotationspunkt, ledpunkt (sv), vridningspunkt Telugu: ఆధారము (te) (ādhāramu) Turkish: destek (tr) Ukrainian: точка опори f (točka opory) Welsh: ffwlcrwm m, pwysbwynt m

a crux or pivot; a central point

German: Dreh- und Angelpunkt (de) m Polish: sedno (pl) n

Latin

Etymology

From fulciō +‎ -crum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfʊɫ.krũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈful.krum]

Noun

fulcrum n (genitive fulcrī); second declension

1. bedpost
2. foot (of a couch)
3. (pars pro toto) couch

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	fulcrum	fulcra
genitive	fulcrī	fulcrōrum
dative	fulcrō	fulcrīs
accusative	fulcrum	fulcra
ablative	fulcrō	fulcrīs
vocative	fulcrum	fulcra

Descendants

• Catalan: fulcre
• English: fulcrum
• French: fulcrum
• Italian: fulcro
• Portuguese: fulcro
• Sicilian: furcru
• Spanish: fulcro
• ⇒ Translingual: Fulcrifera

References

• “fulcrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fulcrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fulcrum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “fulcrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin