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

namby-pamby

adjective, noun, verb

Forms namby-pambier namby-pambiest namby-pambies namby-pambying namby-pambied mamby-pamby

  1. adjective Insipid and sentimental.
  2. adjective Lacking vigor or decisiveness; spineless; wishy-washy.
  3. noun One who is insipid, sentimental, or weak.
  4. noun Talk or writing which is weakly sentimental or affectedly pretty.
  5. verb To coddle.

Synonyms

namby nestle-cock sissy softy gutless spineless wishy-washy

Etymology

From the poem Namby-Pamby (1726) by Henry Carey, a satire on the sentimental pastorals of the poet Ambrose Phillips.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Talk or writing which is weakly sentimental or affectedly pretty. Macaulay.
  2. adjective Affectedly pretty; weakly sentimental; finical; insipid.

Etymology [From Ambrose Phillips, in ridicule of the extreme simplicity of some of his verses.]

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