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

nappy

/ˈnæpi/ noun, verb, adjective

Forms nappies nappying nappied nappier nappiest nappie

  1. noun (UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand) An absorbent garment worn by a baby or toddler who does not yet have voluntary control of their bladder and bowels or by someone who is incontinent; a diaper.
  2. verb (transitive) To put a nappy on. “The mother nappied the baby.”
  3. adjective Having a nap (of cloth etc.); downy; shaggy.
  4. adjective (US, informal, sometimes offensive) Of hair: tightly curled or twisted; frizzy (often specifically in reference to Afro textured hair)
  5. adjective (rare) Inclined to sleep; sleepy.
  6. noun A shallow, flat-bottomed earthenware or glass bowl with sloping sides.
  7. adjective (of a drink) Foamy; having a large head.
  8. adjective (of a horse) Nervous, excitable.
  9. noun (obsolete) A kind of strong ale; nappy ale.
  10. adjective (Scotland) Brittle.

Synonyms

diaper napkin kinky frizzy fuzzy woolly fuzzy-headed wool-headed wool-pated woolly-headed Afro-textured crisp frizzly

Etymology

A diminutive in -y. The base is probably napkin but possibly French nappe directly (note that napkin is already a diminutive).

From nap + -y.

From Middle English nap, from Old English hnæp, hnæpp, hnæpf (“cup, bowl”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnapp, from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz (“bowl, goblet, cup”). See hanaper.

Related to knap.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Inclined to sleep; sleepy; as, to feel nappy.
  2. adjective Tending to cause sleepiness; serving to make sleepy; strong; heady; as, nappy ale. [Obs.] Wyatt.
  3. adjective Having a nap or pile; downy; shaggy. Holland.
  4. noun A round earthen dish, with a flat bottom and sloping sides.

Etymology [From 1st Nap.]

Etymology [From 3d Nap.]

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