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

lovely

/ˈlʌv.li/ adjective, noun, adverb, proper noun

Forms lovelier loveliest lovelies

  1. adjective Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace. “It's a lovely day and the sun is shining.”
  2. adjective Nice; wonderful. “It would be lovely to have a little more money to spend.”
  3. adjective (obsolete) Inspiring love or friendship; amiable.
  4. adjective (obsolete) Loving, filled with love.
  5. noun (informal) An attractive, lovely person, especially a (professional) beauty. “a calendar depicting young lovelies in bikinis”
  6. noun Term of fond address. “Goodbye, my lovely.”
  7. noun A lovely object.
  8. adverb (informal) In a lovely fashion or manner; beautifully.
  9. adjective (archaic) Worthy of praise.
  10. proper noun A surname.
  11. proper noun An unincorporated community in Martin County, Kentucky, United States.

Synonyms

beautiful charming lovable lovesome loving pretty darling cover girl pin-up adorable endearing

Etymology

From Middle English lovely, luvelich, lufli, from Old English luflīċ, luflīc (“amiable, loving, lovable”), equivalent to love + -ly.

From Middle English lovely, luveliche, from Old English luflīċe (“lovingly, amiably, kindly, dearly, with good will or love, willingly”), equivalent to love + -ly.

From Middle English lofly, lovely (“praiseworthy; laudatory”), equivalent to lofe + -ly. Cognate with Dutch loffelijk (“laudable, praiseworthy”), German löblich (“commendable, laudable, praiseworthy”), Swedish lovlig (“permissible”). More at lofe, love.

From lovely.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Having such an appearance as excites, or is fitted to excite, love; beautiful; charming; very pleasing in form, looks, tone, or manner. "Lovely to look on." Piers Plowman.
  2. adjective Lovable; amiable; having qualities of any kind which excite, or are fitted to excite, love or friendship.
  3. adverb In a manner to please, or to excite love. [Obs. or R.] Tyndale.

Etymology [AS. luflic.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “lovely” (best matches first).

All 74 Sanskrit matches →