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

dicky

/ˈdɪki/ noun, adjective, proper noun

Also a form of dickey dickie

Forms dickies dickier dickiest dickey dickie

  1. noun (colloquial) A louse.
  2. noun (Cockney rhyming slang) Dicky dirt = a shirt, meaning a shirt with a collar.
  3. noun (slang) A detachable shirt front, collar or bib.
  4. noun (slang, dated) A hat, especially (in the US) a stiff hat or derby, and (in the UK) a straw hat.
  5. noun (dated) A seat behind a carriage or early motor car, for a servant.
  6. noun (dated) A seat in a carriage, for the driver.
  7. noun (South Asia) The luggage storage compartment of a sedan/saloon style car. “Can you open the dicky for me?”
  8. noun (India, colloquial) the buttocks.
  9. adjective (colloquial) In bad condition; weak, faulty, unreliable, doubtful, troublesome. “He had a dicky heart.”
  10. noun (vulgar, slang) A penis (dick).
  11. adjective (informal, vulgar) Like a dick, foolish or obnoxious.
  12. proper noun A diminutive of the male given name Richard.

Synonyms

tommy boot trunk 'tocks arse arse cheeks ass ass cheeks back backside batty behind blessed assurance booty botty bottom bum bum cheeks buns butt dickey dickie dickey-seat dickie-seat dicky-seat shirtfront

Etymology

From Dicky, pet form of Richard.
* In cover/apron senses: perhaps from English dialect dick (“leather apron”) + -y; perhaps from Dutch dek (“a cover”).

Unknown. Perhaps a use of Dicky, hypocoristic form of Dick, perhaps playing on its resemblance to tricky, sticky, or other similar-sounding words. Alternatively, perhaps an alteration of dickens.

From dick + -y (diminutive suffix), apparently originally punningly after Etymology 1.

From dick + -y (adjectival suffix).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A seat behind a carriage, for a servant.
  2. noun A false shirt front or bosom.

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