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

higgledy-piggledy

/ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/ adjective, adverb, noun

Forms higgledy-piggledies higgledypiggledy hoggledy-piggledy hoggledy-poggledy huggledy-piggledy

  1. adjective (slang) In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up. “I can't find your memo since my desk is all higgledy-piggledy.”
  2. adverb (slang) In a confused, disordered, or random way.
  3. noun A disordered jumble; a confusion.
  4. noun A double-dactyl; a short poem with eight lines in dactylic meter.
  5. noun Any of various word games using rhyming compounds or dactylic words or phrases.

Synonyms

disordered disorderly hugger-mugger jumbled topsy-turvy raggle-taggle willy-nilly hodgepodge

Etymology

A reduplicated rhyming compound. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible link to pig, since the animals huddle in irregular groups, but notes that the connection is uncertain. First use appears c. 1598. The first part of the old alternative form, hoggledy-piggledy, may derive from the archaic Welsh hogldy, a hovel.

Self-reference to the form of the word higgledy-piggledy.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adverb In confusion; topsy-turvy. [Colloq.] Johnson.

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