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

offbeat

/ˈɒfbiːt/ noun, adjective

Forms offbeats off-beat off beat

  1. noun (music) The beats not normally accented in a measure. “The congregation clapped along on the offbeat.”
  2. noun (slang, figurative) An unconventional person, someone who does not follow the beat, who chooses not to conform.
  3. adjective (slang, figurative) Unusual; unconventional; not ordinary. “He has such an offbeat sense of humor that hardly anyone finds his jokes amusing.”

Synonyms

oddball free spirit heteroclite individualist nonconformist outré eccentric deviant deviate maverick misfit bizarro coot crackpot crank freak glaik hard case kook live one upbeat far-out kinky quirky way-out

Etymology

From off- + beat; not following the beat (e.g., of a drum that sounds out cadence).

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