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

blues

/bluːz/ noun, proper noun

Also a form of blue

  1. noun (usually in the plural, informal) A feeling of sadness or depression. “I've got the blues today.”
  2. noun (informal, in the singular or in the plural) One's particular life experience, particularly including the hardships one has faced. “Your blues is just like mine.”
  3. noun (informal, in the singular or in the plural) The negative emotional state produced by a particular action, occupation, experience, or idea. “I've got the lonely man's blues.”
  4. noun (music) A musical form, of African-American origin, generally featuring an eight-bar or twelve-bar blues structure and using the blues scale. “Many great blues musicians came from the Mississippi Delta region.”
  5. noun (music, in the singular) A musical composition following blues forms. “My next number is a blues in G.”
  6. noun A uniform made principally of a blue fabric, and especially a full dress uniform thus colored. “They marched in their dress blues.”
  7. noun (slang, drugs) Any of various blue pills sold on the street, mimicking the appearance of prescription painkiller tablets.
  8. proper noun (historical) The chariot-racing faction of the Roman circus and Constantinopolitan hippodrome that wore blue.
  9. proper noun (Australian rules football) Carlton Football Club.
  10. proper noun (rugby league) New South Wales.
  11. proper noun (soccer) Birmingham City FC.
  12. proper noun (soccer) Everton FC.
  13. proper noun (soccer) Chelsea FC.
  14. proper noun (soccer) Manchester City FC.

Synonyms

blueness tristesse mirthless crestfallenness dejection depression despondency distress dolefulness downheartedness drearihead forlornness grief heartsore ill-being infelicity melancholia melancholy misery mishappiness blue devils megrims vapors vapours

Etymology

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin venetī (“Sea-Blues”) or factio veneta (“the sea-blue faction”) and Byzantine Greek Βένετοι (Bénetoi, “Blues”).

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “blues”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details