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

gingerly

UK /ˈdʒɪn(d)ʒəli/ · US /ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚli/ adverb, adjective

Forms gingerlier gingerliest

  1. adverb In a cautious and delicate manner; (very) carefully or cautiously. “He placed the glass jar gingerly on the concrete step.”
  2. adverb (obsolete) Chiefly of dancing or walking: done with small, dainty steps; daintily; also, with excessive delicacy; affectedly, mincingly.
  3. adjective Often of movements: very careful, cautious, or delicate.
  4. adjective (obsolete) Often of a person or the way they move: dainty, delicate; also, excessively delicate; affected, mincing.

Synonyms

ginger tentatively warily gingerish tentative wary

Etymology

The second element is -ly; the first element may be Anglo-Norman gençur or Old French gençor, gensor, comparative forms (also attested as positives) of gent (“beautiful, noble, pleasant, courteous”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes, however, that there is a gap of a few centuries between the last appearance of gençor, etc., and the first appearance of gingerly.
The adjective is derived from the adverb, possibly because -ly is also a suffix forming adjectives.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adverb Cautiously; timidly; fastidiously; daintily.

Etymology [Prov. E. ginger brittle, tender; cf. dial. Sw. gingla, gängla, to go gently, totter, akin to E. gang.]

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