Pegs

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /pɛɡz/

Definitions

1. A small cylindrical or tapered object used to fasten or secure items in place
2. A piece employed in games or sports, often for scoring by marking
3. An element used to support or hold structures, such as in construction or furniture

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "pegs" is how rare its initial sound is. Among English words beginning with p, very few descend from Proto-Germanic rather than from Latin or French, and this is one of them. The original Proto-Indo-European sound was a "b", which the Germanic languages shifted to "p" in a regular change known as Grimm's law. The root is ancient, meaning something like a club, a pointed stick or a peg, and its relatives include the Latin "baculum" (staff) and the ancient Greek "báktron" (staff or walking stick). The sense of a pointed stick survives across the Germanic family: Dutch dialect "peg" means pin, Swedish "pigg" means tooth or spike, and Danish "pig" means spike. The English word is also related to "beak", since both grow from the same idea of something pointed. Pegs were then used to ascribe attributes to people or things, as in "pegged as a troublemaker". The phrase is assumed to come from pins or markers placed on a bulletin board or list to show where something belonged.

Synonyms: pins, stakes, supports, fasteners, clamps