Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

steelyard

/ˈstiːljɑːɹd/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.50 in modern English

Syllables
steel-yard
IPA
/ˈstiːljɑːɹd/
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A transportable balance with unequal arm lengths.

noun

A place where steel (and possibly other metals as well) is stored and sold.

Etymology

From steel + yard (“enclosed area, rod”). The sense of “place” is a calque of Dutch staalhof or Middle Low German Stalhof (Modern Dutch staal (“steel”) + hof (“court, yard”)). The sense of “balance” is presumably from the sense of “place”, originally “steelyard beam”, mixed with additional sense of “rod” (hence “rod for weighing steel”), replacing earlier Latin statēra.

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈstiːljɑːɹd/
  • British English: /ˈstiːljɑːd/

Inflected Forms

steelyards (plural) stilliard (alternative) stilyard (alternative)

Synonyms

steelyard balance lever scale beam scale

Questions

How do you pronounce steelyard?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈstiːljɑːɹd/.
What does steelyard mean?
A transportable balance with unequal arm lengths.
Where does steelyard come from?
From steel + yard (“enclosed area, rod”). The sense of “place” is a calque of Dutch staalhof or Middle Low German Stalhof (Modern Dutch staal (“steel”) + hof (“court, yard”)). The sense of “balance” is presumably from the sense of “place”, originally “steelyard beam”, mixed with additional sense of “rod” (hence “rod for weighing steel”), replacing earlier Latin statēra.

How to pronounce steelyard

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