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

kibitz

/ˈkɪbɪts/ verb

Forms kibitzes kibitzing kibitzed kibbitz

  1. verb (intransitive) To make small talk or idle chatter. “Louise and I used to head down to the coffee shop and just sit for hours and kibitz.”
  2. verb (intransitive) To give unsolicited or unwanted advice or make unhelpful or idle comments, especially to someone playing a game. “Quit kibitzing! You're giving away my hand!”
  3. verb (intransitive, transitive) To watch a card or board game.

Synonyms

chat gossip kibbitz

Etymology

From Yiddish קיבעצן (kibetsn), cognate to German kiebitzen (“to look on”), from German Kiebitz (“lapwing”), from Middle High German gibiz (“plover”), imitative of its cry. Compare peewit.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “kibitz”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details