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

dibs

/dɪbz/ noun, interjection, verb

Forms dibses dibsing dibsed

  1. noun (informal) The right to use or enjoy something exclusively or before anyone else. “I call dibs on the hammock!”
  2. interjection (informal) Used to claim this right.
  3. verb (informal) To claim a temporary right to (something); to reserve.
  4. noun (dated) A sweet preparation or treacle of grape juice, much used in the East.
  5. noun (obsolete) A child's game, played with dib bones or stones, throwing them up from one's palm and catching them on the back of the hand.
  6. noun (slang, archaic) Money.

Synonyms

bags bagsy

Etymology

Since the early 19th century, of disputed origin. Most commonly thought to be from dibstones (“counters used in a game with the same name”). Also from dib (“to tap”) or related to northern English dip (“small depression in the ground”), or a shortened version of divide.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A sweet preparation or treacle of grape juice, much used in the East. Johnston.

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