The spelling of the word "aikins" may seem confusing at first, but it can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The first sound is pronounced as the "a" in "cat" (æ). The second syllable is pronounced as the "eye" sound (aɪ). The "k" is pronounced with a hard "k" sound (k). The fourth sound is the "in" sound (ɪn), followed by the "s" sound (s). So, in IPA transcription, "aikins" would be written as /ˈeɪkɪnz/.