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

hugger-mugger

UK /ˈhʌɡ.əˌmʌɡ.ə/ · US /ˈhʌɡ.ɚˌmʌɡ.ɚ/ adjective, noun, adverb, verb

Forms hugger-muggers hugger-muggering hugger-muggered huggermugger hucker-mucker hoker-moker

  1. adjective Secret, clandestine, sly.
  2. adjective Disorderly, chaotic, confused. “hugger-mugger doings”
  3. noun (archaic) Secrecy.
  4. noun Disorder.
  5. adverb Secretly.
  6. adverb Confusedly, in a muddle.
  7. verb To meet or act secretly.

Synonyms

abstruse behind the scenes catlike backroom backstairs stealth clandestine cloak-and-dagger concealed confidential covert deep-laid dern disguised furtive huggermugger hush-hush inconspicuous incognito low profile disorderly higgledy-piggledy jumbled topsy-turvy hole-and-corner secret surreptitious undercover underground

Etymology

Unknown; perhaps from Anglo-Irish cuggermugger (“a whispering, a low-voiced gossiping”), from Irish cogar (“whisper”). Compare also Scots hudge-mudge, hody-moke, Swedish mjugg (“stealth, secrecy”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger, with haste and secrecy. [Archaic]
  2. adjective Secret; clandestine; sly.
  3. adjective Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger doings.

Etymology [Scot. huggrie-muggrie; Prov. E. hugger to lie in ambush, mug mist, muggard sullen.]

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