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

ambidextrous

UK /ˌæm.biˈdɛk.stɹəs/ · US /ˌæm.bɪˈdɛk.stɹəs/ adjective

  1. adjective Having equal or comparable ability in both hands; in particular, able to write well with both hands.
  2. adjective Equally usable by left-handed and right-handed people (as a tool or instrument).
  3. adjective (archaic) Practising or siding with both parties.
  4. adjective (humorous) Of a person, bisexual.
  5. adjective Exceptionally skillful; adept in more than one medium, genre, style, etc. “Michelangelo was a very ambidextrous artist, producing sculptures and frescoes with equal ability.”

Synonyms

both-handed either-handed two-handed deceitful double-dealing duplicitous Janus-faced two-faced double-faced double-tongued

Antonyms

ambilevous ambisinistrous right-handed left-handed

Etymology

From Medieval Latin ambidexter + -ous, the former from ambi- (“both”) + dexter (“right”), thus literally “both hands being like a right hand”. By surface analysis, ambi- (“both”) + dextrous (“skillful; agile”).
The Latin word is first attested in the Vetus Latina, calquing Ancient Greek ἀμφοτεροδέξιος (amphoterodéxios) in Judges 3:15 after the Septuagint, itself translating Hebrew אִטֵּר יַד יְמִינוֹ (iṭṭēr yaḏ yəmīnō, literally “bound in his right hand”). This phrase is now generally translated as “left-handed”; the Septuagint translation is either from a variant reading or from a different interpretation.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Pertaining the faculty of using both hands with equal ease. Sir T. Browne.
  2. adjective Practicing or siding with both parties.

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