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

changeling

UK /ˈtʃeɪn(d)ʒlɪŋ/ · US /ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒlɪŋ/ noun, adjective

Forms changelings

  1. noun (European folklore, also figurative) In pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches.
  2. noun (by extension) A person or object (especially when regarded as inferior) secretly exchanged for something else.
  3. noun (by extension, informal, rare) An infant secretly exchanged with another infant deliberately or by mistake; a swapling.
  4. noun (fantasy, science fiction) An organism which can change shape to mimic others; a shape-shifter.
  5. noun (archaic, also figurative) A person apt to change their loyalty or thinking; a waverer.
  6. noun (obsolete) An idiot, a simpleton.
  7. adjective (archaic, rare) Changeable, fickle, inconstant, wavering.

Synonyms

oaf swapling shape-shifter shapeshifter shifter turncoat withersake apostate balimbing butterfly defector runagate traitor transfuge turncloak turntippet addle-brain addlehead addle pate airhead idiot imbecile cretin moron half-wit retard

Etymology

The noun is derived from change + -ling (suffix with the sense ‘immature; small’). Sense 6 (“idiot, simpleton”) is from the idea that foolish children had been left by magical creatures (sense 1).
The adjective is derived from the noun.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of another, as a child exchanged by fairies.
  2. noun A simpleton; an idiot. Macaulay.
  3. adjective Taken or left in place of another; changed. "A little changeling boy." Shak.
  4. adjective Given to change; inconstant. [Obs.]

Etymology [Change + -ling.]

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