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

dowdy

/ˈdaʊdi/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun

Forms dowdier dowdiest dowdies dowdying dowdied Dowdys daverdy

  1. adjective Plain and unfashionable in style or dress.
  2. adjective Lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby.
  3. noun A plain or shabby person.
  4. verb (cooking, transitive) To press the crust into the filling during baking, to allow the juices to caramelize on top.
  5. proper noun A surname from Irish.

Synonyms

Dowding Hugh Dowding Baron Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding pandowdy frumpy frumpish

Etymology

First appears c. 1581. Origin uncertain, probably literally "little poorly dressed woman," formed from doue, "poorly dressed woman". Possibly also related to the Scots dow, meaning to "fade".

Variant of Dowd.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Showing a vulgar taste in dress; awkward and slovenly in dress; vulgar-looking.
  2. noun An awkward, vulgarly dressed, inelegant woman. Shak. Dryden.

Etymology [Scot. dawdie slovenly, daw, da sluggard, drab, Prov. E. dowd flat, dead.]

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