Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

upstairs

UK /ˌʌpˈstɛəz/ · US /ˌʌpˈstɛɹz/ adjective, adverb, noun

Forms further upstairs farther upstairs furthest upstairs farthest upstairs up stairs up-stairs

  1. adjective Located on a higher floor or level of a building. “We rent out the upstairs bedroom to a student.”
  2. adjective (baseball, informal) Pertaining to a pitched ball that is high, and usually outside the strike zone. “That fastball was upstairs for a ball.”
  3. adjective (linguistics, semantics, syntax) Originating in or associated with a higher matrix clause, as opposed to a lower embedded clause.
  4. adverb Up the stairs; on or to a higher floor or level. “I’ll take my shoes and put them away the next time I go upstairs.”
  5. adverb (informal) In the brain or mind. “After Joe did a hula dance on the kitchen table, his friends wondered if he didn’t have a lot going on upstairs.”
  6. adverb (informal) In heaven, especially with regard to where a deity might be found.
  7. adverb (linguistics, semantics, syntax) In or to a higher matrix clause, as opposed to a lower embedded clause.
  8. noun An upper storey. “an upstairs bathroom”
  9. noun (slang, euphemistic) A woman's breasts.

Synonyms

upstair up the stairs on a higher floor

Antonyms

downstairs

Etymology

From up- + stair + -s.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adverb Up the stairs; in or toward an upper story.
  2. adjective Being above stairs; as, an upstairs room.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “upstairs”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details