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

cajun

/ˈkeɪ.d͡ʒən/ noun, adjective

Forms Cajuns Cadien Cajin Cadjin Cagin

  1. noun A member of the ethnic group descending from Acadia, primarily French-speaking Catholic and living in Southern Louisiana and Maine.
  2. noun (ethnic slur, dated) Any uneducated, poor Francophone in French Louisiana. “Damn Cajuns! They're all a bunch of lazy coonasses!”
  3. adjective Relating to the Cajun people or their culture.
  4. adjective Of spicy food prepared in the style of the Cajun cuisine.

Synonyms

coonass

Etymology

An Anglicization of the Acadian French Cadien (itself an aphetic form of Acadien (“Acadian”)), reflecting the palatalization of /dj/ to /d͡ʒ/ in the Acadian dialect.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun In Louisiana, a person reputed to be Acadian French descent.

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