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

lowlife

UK /ˈləʊlaɪf/ · US /ˈloʊlaɪf/ adjective, noun

Forms lowlifes lowlives low-life low life

  1. adjective Lacking morality.
  2. adjective Seemingly mischievous and troublesome to society.
  3. noun (derogatory) An untrustworthy, despicable, disreputable, or otherwise immoral person, especially one suspected of being a criminal. “They say all the lowlifes used to hang out at the docks and plot their despicable crimes, before being elected to public office.”
  4. noun (derogatory) A person who is rebuked by their community for their behavior.
  5. noun (derogatory) A person of low socio-economic status.

Synonyms

criminal and Thesaurus:jerk rotter dirty dog rat skunk stinker stinkpot bum puke crumb scum bag so-and-so git

Etymology

From low + life.

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