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

middling

UK /ˈmɪdlɪŋ/ · US /ˈmɪd(ə)lɪŋ/ adjective, adverb, noun

Also a form of middle

Forms middlings

  1. adjective Of intermediate or average size, position, or quality; mediocre. “The football team is never the worst or best in its league; its position is always middling.”
  2. adjective (colloquial, regional UK) In fairly good health.
  3. adverb (colloquial, regional UK) Fairly, moderately, somewhat.
  4. adverb (colloquial, regional UK) Not too badly, with modest success.
  5. noun Something of intermediate or average size, position, or quality.
  6. noun (in the plural) Preceded by the: people of moderate means; members of the middle class.

Synonyms

average medium unexceptional comme ci comme ça crappy moderate decent indifferent lackluster meh mediocre mid no great shakes nothing to write home about not worth writing home about OK okayish ordinary pedestrian uninspiring fair reasonably moderately pretty jolly somewhat fairly passably

Etymology

The noun is probably from middle (noun) + -ing; the adjective is most likely derived from the noun, and the adverb from the adjective.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Of middle rank, state, size, or quality; about equally distant from the extremes; medium; moderate; mediocre; ordinary. "A town of but middling size." Hallam.

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

Sanskrit

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

All 11 Sanskrit matches →