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

crayfish

/ˈkɹeɪˌfɪʃ/ noun, verb

Forms crayfishes crayfishing crayfished crawfish craifish crafish crefish crevis crevyssh

  1. noun Any of numerous freshwater decapod crustaceans in superfamily Astacoidea or Parastacoidea, resembling the related lobster but usually much smaller.
  2. noun (New England, Pennsylvania, Upper Midwestern US) A freshwater crustacean (family Cambaridae), sometimes used as an inexpensive seafood or as fish bait.
  3. noun (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) A rock lobster (family Palinuridae).
  4. noun (Australia) A freshwater crayfish (family Parastacidae), such as the gilgie, marron, or yabby.
  5. noun (Singapore) The species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family (Scyllaridae).
  6. verb (intransitive) To catch crayfish.

Synonyms

Moreton Bay bug crawdad crawldad crawfish crawlfish mudbug yabby spiny lobster langouste rock lobster ecrevisse crawdaddy sea crawfish

Etymology

Alteration (by folk etymological influence of fish) of Middle English crevis (whence modern dialectal crevis), from Old French crevice ("crayfish"; > Modern French: écrevisse), from Frankish *krebitja (“crayfish”), diminutive of Frankish *krebit (“crab”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz (“crab, cancer”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ-, *grebʰ- (“to scratch, crawl”), or from a substrate word folk-etymologically influenced by this root.
Akin to Old High German krebiz (Modern German Krebs (“crustacean, crab, crayfish”)), Middle Low German krēvet (“crab, crayfish”), Dutch kreeft (“crayfish, lobster”), Old English crabba (“crab”). More at crab.
Doublet of crevette, crevis, and Krebs.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any crustacean of the family Astacidæ, resembling the lobster, but smaller, and found in fresh waters. Crawfishes are esteemed very delicate food both in Europe and America. The North American species are numerous and mostly belong to the genus Cambarus. The blind crawfish of the Mamoth Cave is Cambarus pellucidus. The common European species is Astacus fluviatilis.
  2. noun See Crawfish.

Etymology [Corrupted fr. OE. crevis, creves, OF. crevice, F. , fr. OHG. krebiz crab, G. krebs. See Crab. The ending -fish arose from confusion with E. fish.]

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