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

jerk

UK /ˈd͡ʒɜːk/ · US /ˈd͡ʒɝk/ noun, verb

Forms jerks jerking jerked yark

  1. noun A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the human body.
  2. noun A quick pull on something. “When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!”
  3. noun (originally Canada, US, slang, derogatory) A person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, immoral, self-centered, or disagreeable. “I finally fired him, because he was being a real jerk to his customers, even to some of the staff.”
  4. noun (US, slang, derogatory) A stupid person; an idiot or fool.
  5. noun (weightlifting) A lift in which the weight is taken with a quick motion from shoulder height to a position above the head with arms fully extended and held there for a brief time.
  6. noun (slang) Masturbation.
  7. noun (Internet slang) An act of satirizing behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits. “Jerk of the Year contender”
  8. noun (preceded by definite article) A dance, popular in Western culture in the 1960s, in which the head and upper body is thrown forwards regularly to the beat of the music.
  9. verb (intransitive) To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.
  10. verb (transitive) To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.
  11. verb (US, slang, vulgar) To masturbate.
  12. verb (Internet slang) To satirize behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits. “This is jerking’s 9/11”
  13. verb (obsolete) To beat, to hit.
  14. verb (obsolete) To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand. “to jerk a stone”
  15. verb (usually transitive, weightlifting) To lift using a jerk.
  16. verb (obsolete) To flout with contempt.
  17. noun (Caribbean, Jamaica) A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade.
  18. noun (Caribbean, Jamaica) Meat (or sometimes vegetables) cured by jerking, in which it is coated in spices and slow-cooked over a fire or grill traditionally composed of green pimento wood positioned over burning coals; charqui. “Jerk chicken is a local favorite.”
  19. verb To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.

Synonyms

jolt lurch shudder shake jump working yank tug asshole arsehole alcatote asshat bayard berk birdbrain blither bobchin bonehead bozo buffoon dork jerking saccade jerky jerked meat twitch buck hitch flick

Etymology

Probably from Middle English yerk (“sudden motion”) and Middle English yerkid (“tightly pulled”), from Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”) and Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”). Cognate with Scots yerk (“to jerk”). Related also to English yare (“ready”).

Denominal verb of jerky, itself borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua ch'arki.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To cut into long slices or strips and dry in the sun; as, jerk beef. See Charqui.
  2. verb To beat; to strike. [Obs.] Florio.
  3. verb To give a quick and suddenly arrested thrust, push, pull, or twist, to; to yerk; as, to jerk one with the elbow; to jerk a coat off.
  4. verb To make a sudden motion; to move with a start, or by starts.

Etymology [Corrupted from Peruv. charqui dried beef.]

Etymology [Akin to yerk, and perh. also to yard a measure.]

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