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

holly

UK /ˈhɒli/ · US /ˈhɑli/ noun, proper noun

Forms hollies Hollie Hollee Holli Hollye Holley

  1. noun Any of various shrubs or (mostly) small trees, of the genus Ilex, either evergreen or deciduous, used as decoration especially at Christmas. “We'll deck the halls with boughs of holly.”
  2. noun The wood from this tree.
  3. noun (with a qualifier) Any of several not closely related plant species likened to Ilex because of their prickly, evergreen foliage and/or round, bright-red berries
  4. proper noun A female given name from English.
  5. proper noun A topographic surname from Middle English.
  6. proper noun (rare) A male given name transferred from the surname.
  7. proper noun A town in Prowers County, Colorado, named after cattleman Hiram S. Holly.
  8. proper noun A township and village therein, in Oakland County, Michigan.
  9. proper noun A township in Murray County, Minnesota, named after settler John Z. Holly.
  10. proper noun An unincorporated community in Houston County, Texas.
  11. proper noun An unincorporated community in Kitsap County, Washington, named for a large holly tree.

Synonyms

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley

Etymology

From Middle English holly, holi, holie, a shortened variation of holin, holyn (> English dialectal hollen, holm), from Old English holeġn, holen (“holly; prince, protector”), from Proto-West Germanic *hulis (“holly”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat, break”).
Cognate with Scots holin, hollin, holyn (“holly”), Dutch hulst (“holly”), German Hulst (“holly”), French houx ("holly" < Germanic), Danish hylver (“holly”), Welsh celyn (“holly”), Russian ко́лос (kólos, “ear of wheat”), Albanian kalli (“straw, chaff”), Latin culmus (“stalk, stem”), Sanskrit कटम्ब (kaṭamba, “arrow”), Old Church Slavonic класъ (klasŭ, “ear of grain”).

* As an Irish surname, calque of mac cuilinn (“holly”) (see McCullen) and sometimes McQuillan.
* As an English surname, variant of Holley.
* As a Czech and Slovak surname, variant of Holý, Holy.
* Also as a locational English surname, from Old English hol leah (“wood, clearing, meadow”), compare Hollywood.
* Also as an English surname, short form of Holiday.
* Also as an English surname, after the holly tree.
* As a feminine given name popularized by Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (especially the 1961 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adverb Wholly. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  2. noun A tree or shrub of the genus Ilex. The European species (Ilex Aguifolium) is best known, having glossy green leaves, with a spiny, waved edge, and bearing berries that turn red or yellow about Michaelmas.
  3. noun The holm oak. See 1st Holm. Holly-leaved oak (Bot.), the black scrub oak. See Scrub oak. -- Holly rose (Bot.), a West Indian shrub, with showy, yellow flowers (Turnera ulmifolia).

Etymology [OE holi, holin, AS. holen, holegn; akin to D. & G. hulst, OHG. huls hulis, W. celyn, Armor. kelen, Gael. cuilionn, Ir. cuileann. Cf. 1st Holm, Hulver.]

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