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

yankee

/ˈjæŋ.ki/ noun, verb

Forms yankees Yankeeing Yankeed Yanky Yankey Yengee

  1. noun (nautical) A headsail resembling a genoa or a jib but with a high-cut clew, normally used together with a staysail. A sailing boat is typically equipped with three yankee sails of different sizes, number one being the largest.
  2. noun (chiefly Southern US) A native or inhabitant of the northern United States.
  3. noun (chiefly Northern US) A native or inhabitant of New England.
  4. noun (chiefly French Louisiana) An anglo, someone without French ancestry; a native or inhabitant of the rest of the United States.
  5. noun (chiefly Commonwealth, sometimes derogatory) A native or inhabitant of the United States in general.
  6. noun (chiefly Southern US, often derogatory, historical) Any individual associated with the Union; that is, the United States federal government, during the American Civil War.
  7. noun (baseball) A player for the New York Yankees.
  8. noun (nautical) A large triangular headsail used in light or moderate winds and set on the fore topmast stay. Unlike a genoa it does not fill the whole fore triangle, but is set in combination with the working staysail.
  9. noun (gambling) A wager on four selections, consisting of 11 separate bets: six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator.
  10. verb (dated, slang, US, Canada, sometimes offensive) to cheat, trick or swindle somebody; to misrepresent something

Synonyms

American US American Americunt Ameritard Seppo septic United Statesian United Statian Usanian USian US-ian Usonan Usonian U.S. American US-American Yank Northerner New Englander Yankee-Doodle

Antonyms

Confederate southron reb

Etymology

First attested in 1765, when it was described as "a name of derision … given by the Southern people on the Continent to those of New England". Various suggestions have been made as to its origin: that it derives from a Cherokee word meaning "slave" or "coward" and was applied to the New Englanders by the Virginians because the former refused to aid the latter in a war against the Cherokees; that it derives from Yengees, an Indian corruption of English; and that it derives from Janke, a pet form of the common Dutch forename Jan. The OED regards the last of these as "perhaps the most plausible".

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A nickname for a native of citizen of New England, especially one descended from old New England stock; by extension, an inhabitant of the Northern States as distinguished from a Southerner; also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any inhabitant of the United States.
  2. adjective Of or pertaining to a Yankee; characteristic of the Yankees.

Etymology [Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word English, or of the French word Anglais, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin, a diminutive of John, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. W. Gordon ("Hist. of the Amer. War," ed, 1789, vol. i., pp. 324, 325) says it was a favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant excellent; as, a yankee good horse, yankee good cider, etc. Cf. Scot yankie a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov. E. bow- yankees a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.]

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