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

wishy-washy

UK /ˈwɪʃ.iˌwɒʃ.i/ · US /ˈwɪʃ.iˌwɑ.ʃi/ adjective

Forms wishy-washier wishy-washiest

  1. adjective Wavering; lacking in commitment, certainty, support, and (often) clarity; namby-pamby. “Not wanting to be pressed for details, public relations gave a wishy-washy answer.”
  2. adjective Thin or watery. “The wishy-washy orange juice served by the cafeteria not only failed to be sweet; it was barely orange.”

Synonyms

vacillating vacillatory watered-down diluted dilute namby-pamby gutless spineless

Etymology

Reduplication of washy; more at Wikipedia under ablaut reduplication. The wish portion of the term is explained much more by the ablaut reduplication than by any coincidental semantic appropriateness (such as that wishy-washy people wish that they could have it both ways), although the latter effect may play some nonzero cognitive role in word-finding. Compare also swish, swash, splish, and splash regarding any possible sound symbolism.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Thin and pale; weak; without strength or substance; --originally said of liquids. Fig., weak-minded; spiritless.
  2. noun A weak or thin drink or liquor; wish-wash.

Etymology [See Wash.]

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