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

chirk

verb, adjective, proper noun

Forms chirks chirking chirked chirker chirkest

  1. verb (intransitive, especially as "chirk up") To become happier.
  2. verb (transitive, especially as "chirk up") To make happier.
  3. verb To make the sound of a bird; to chirp.
  4. adjective (colloquial, US, chiefly New England) lively; cheerful; in good spirits
  5. proper noun A small town and community with a town council in Wrexham borough county borough, Wales (OS grid ref SJ2937).

Etymology

From Middle English chirken, cherken, charken, from Old English ċearcian (“to chatter, creak, crash”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn (“to make a sound, crack”). Doublet of chark. Related also to crake, crack.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To shriek; to gnash; to utter harsh or shrill cries. [Obs.]
  2. verb To chirp like a bird. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  3. verb To cheer; to enliven; as, to chirk one up. [Colloq. New Eng. ]
  4. adjective Lively; cheerful; in good spirits. [Colloq. New Eng.]

Etymology [Cf. Chirp, also Creak.]

Etymology [From Chirk, v. i.]

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