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

harlequin

UK /ˈhɑːlɪkwɪn/ · US /ˈhɑɹlɪkwɪn/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun

Forms harlequins harlequining harlequined

  1. noun A pantomime fool, typically dressed in colorful checkered clothes, used as a stock character in commedia dell'arte and other genres.
  2. noun A greenish-chartreuse color.
  3. noun (informal) A harlequin duck.
  4. noun (entomology) Any of various riodinid butterflies of the genera Taxila and Praetaxila.
  5. adjective Brightly colored, especially in a pattern like that of a harlequin clown's clothes.
  6. adjective Of a greenish-chartreuse color.
  7. verb (transitive) To remove or conjure away, as if by a harlequin's trick.
  8. verb (intransitive) To make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.
  9. proper noun (theater) The best-known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo.
  10. proper noun (eyewear) A type of eyeglass frame design inspired by Venetian Harlequin masks, more commonly known as cat-eye.

Etymology

From earlier Harlicken, from Middle French Harlequin (in Italian Arlecchino, the name of a popular servant character in commedia dell'arte plays), from Old French Harlequin, Halequin, Herlequin, Hellequin, Hierlekin, Hellekin (a demon, malevolent spirit), probably of Germanic origin, connected to the Old English figure of *Herla Cyning (“King Herla”, a mythical figure identified with Woden) or possibly to Old Frisian helle kin, Old English helle cyn, Old Norse heljar kyn (“the kindred of Hell”). Related to Middle English Hurlewain (“a mischievous sprite or goblin”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A buffoon, dressed in party-colored clothes, who plays tricks, often without speaking, to divert the bystanders or an audience; a merry-andrew; originally, a droll rogue of Italian comedy. Percy Smith.
  2. noun To play the droll; to make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.
  3. verb Toremove or conjure away, as by a harlequin's trick.

Etymology [F. arlequin,formerly written also harlequin (cf. It, arlecchino), prob. fr. OF. hierlekin, hellequin, goblin, elf, which is prob. of German or Dutch origin; cf. D. hel hell. Cf. Hell, Kin.]

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