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

obeah

/ˈəʊbɪə/ noun, verb

Forms obeahs obeahing obeahed obe obea obi obia oby

  1. noun A form of folk magic, medicine or witchcraft originating in Africa and practised in parts of the Caribbean.
  2. noun A magician or witch doctor of the magic craft.
  3. noun A spell performed in the practice of the magic craft; an item associated with such a spell.
  4. verb (transitive) To bewitch using this kind of folk magic.

Synonyms

mage shaman spellcaster archmage archmagician bewitcher charmer conjurer illusionist Karcist magic user magus sortileger spellbinder spellmaker thaumaturge theurgist whizz whiz witch doctor obi

Etymology

Uncertain; apparently from a Caribbean creole, probably ultimately from a West African language. The Oxford English Dictionary points to Igbo abià (“knowledge, wisdom”), obìa (“doctor, healer”). Cognate of Aukan obiya, Saramaccan obia, and Sranan Tongo obia.

Webster’s 1913

  1. Same as Obi.
  2. Of or pertaining to obi; as, the obeah man. B. Edwards.

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