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

geek

UK /ɡiːk/ · US /ɡik/ noun, verb

Forms geeks geeking geeked

  1. noun (dated) A carnival performer specializing in bizarre and unappetizing behavior. “I once saw a geek bite the head off a live chicken.”
  2. noun (colloquial) A person who is intensely interested in a particular field or hobby and often having limited or nonstandard social skills. Often used with an attributive noun. “I was a complete computer geek in high school, but I get out a lot more now.”
  3. noun (colloquial, by extension) An expert in a technical field, particularly one having to do with computers. “My laptop’s locked up again. I need a geek.”
  4. noun (uncountable, colloquial) The subculture of geeks; an esoteric subject of interest that is marginal to the social mainstream; the philosophy, events, and physical artifacts of geeks; geekness.
  5. noun (colloquial) An unfashionable or socially undesirable person. “Why do you hang around with them? They’re just geeks.”
  6. verb (intransitive) To perform bizarre and unpleasant feats as part of a carnival.
  7. verb (intransitive, colloquial) To enthusiastically engage in geek-like or nerdy interests. “It was our first time at a Star Trek convention and we had an amazing time wandering around and geeking.”
  8. verb (intransitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To be nervous or hyperactive due to using crack cocaine.
  9. verb (by extension, intransitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To be under the influence of a mood-altering drug.
  10. noun (Australia, colloquial) A look. “Have a geek at this.”
  11. verb (Cornwall) To look; to peep; to stare about intently.

Synonyms

freak anorak buff dork nerd otaku propeller head hacker tech guru loser nonce waste of space absolute zero assbucket asswipe badling blatherskite bugger carrion cipher eccentric eccentric person flake oddball

Etymology

Started as carnival slang, likely from the British dialectal term geck (“a fool, dupe, simpleton”) (1510s), apparently from Dutch gek or Low German geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian meaning "to croak, cackle," and also "to mock, cheat" (Dutch gekken, German gecken, Danish gække, Norwegian gakke, Swedish gäcka). The root still survives in the Dutch adjective noun gek (“crazy" or "crazy person”). Compare gink and also Old Norse gikkr (“a pert, rude person; jester; fool”).

Probably related to keek. Compare German gucken (“look”), kieken (“look”) and the dialectal corruption of Dutch keek (“keek”) (from kijk (“look”)), kijken (“to look”). Australian use from Cornish dialect.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “geek”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details