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

cowboy

/ˈkaʊˌbɔɪ/ noun, verb

Forms cowboys cowboying cowboyed

  1. noun A man who tends free-range cattle, especially in the American West.
  2. noun A man who identifies with cowboy culture, including wearing a cowboy hat and being a fan of country and western music.
  3. noun (obsolete) A young lad employed to tend to cattle.
  4. noun (informal) A person who engages in reckless behavior, especially for the purpose of showing off.
  5. noun (UK, New Zealand, informal) A dishonest or incompetent independent tradesman.
  6. noun (card games, slang) A playing card of king rank.
  7. verb (intransitive) To work as a cowboy, herding cattle.

Synonyms

cowpuncher puncher cowman cattleman cowpoke cowhand cowherd rodeo rider

Etymology

From cow + boy. More on Wikipedia.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A cattle herder; a drover; specifically, one of an adventurous class of herders and drovers on the plains of the Western and Southwestern United States.
  2. noun One of the marauders who, in the Revolutionary War infested the neutral ground between the American and British lines, and committed depredations on the Americans.

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