Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

royal road

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.70 in modern English

Syllables
roy-al road
IPA
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The longest road in the ancient system of trade routes and roads developed in Achaemenid Persia, which connected the capitals Sardis (in Asia Minor) to Susa (in Mesopotamia) and featured post-stations with service facilities.

noun

An easy or straightforward procedure for achieving a goal; a procedure that requires little effort.

noun

A chord progression, IVᴹ⁷–V⁷–iii⁷–vi, common in Japanese pop music.

Example Sentences

Etymology

In reference to Euclid, who is said to have told a king that there was no royal road to geometry. In the musical sense, a calque of Japanese 王道進行, itself deriving from a calque of sense 1.

Inflected Forms

the Royal Road (canonical) royal roads (plural)

Questions

What does royal road mean?
The longest road in the ancient system of trade routes and roads developed in Achaemenid Persia, which connected the capitals Sardis (in Asia Minor) to Susa (in Mesopotamia) and featured post-stations with service facilities.
Where does royal road come from?
In reference to Euclid, who is said to have told a king that there was no royal road to geometry. In the musical sense, a calque of Japanese 王道進行, itself deriving from a calque of sense 1.

How to pronounce royal road

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “royal road”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “royal road”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “royal road” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.