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

posh

UK /pɒʃ/ · US /pɑʃ/ adjective, interjection, noun, verb, proper noun

Forms posher poshest poshes poshing poshed

  1. adjective Associated with the upper classes. “She talks with a posh accent.”
  2. adjective Stylish; elegant; exclusive; luxurious; expensive. “After the performance, they went out to a very posh restaurant.”
  3. adjective (usually offensive, especially in Ireland, Scotland, Northern England) Snobbish, materialistic, prejudiced, under the illusion that one is better than everyone else. “We have a right posh git moving in next door.”
  4. interjection An exclamation expressing derision.
  5. noun (countable, UK, slang, obsolete) A halfpenny or other coin of little value.
  6. noun (uncountable, UK, slang, obsolete) Money.
  7. verb (normally in the phrasal verb posh up) To make posh or posher (more posh).
  8. noun (chiefly dialectal) A sudden and heavy fall or gush of rain or water.
  9. noun (uncountable) Fragments produced by an impact.
  10. noun (uncountable) Slush.
  11. proper noun (soccer, slang) Peterborough United F.C., a football club from Peterborough, England.

Synonyms

upper-crust high-end plush stuck-up poshen classy swish

Etymology

Most likely derived from Romani posh (“half”), either because posh-kooroona (“half a crown”) (originally a substantial sum of money) was used metaphorically for anything pricey or upper-class, or because posh-houri (“half-penny”) came to refer to money generally.
A period slang dictionary defines "posh" as a term used by thieves for "money : generic, but specifically, a halfpenny or other small coin". An example is given from James Payn's The Eavesdropper (1888): "They used such funny terms: 'brads,' and 'dibbs,' and 'mopusses,' and 'posh' ... at last it was borne in upon me that they were talking about money."
Evidence exists for a slang sense from the 1890s meaning dandy, which is quite possibly related.
A popular folk etymology holds that the term is an acronym for "port out, starboard home", describing the cooler, north-facing cabins taken by the most aristocratic or rich passengers travelling from Britain to India and back. However, there is no evidence for this claim.
It could also possibly be a clipping of polished.
See also the articles mentioned in the References section below for additional discussion.

Compare pash (“smash, bash; of rain: fall heavily”).

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