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

prank

/pɹæŋk/ noun, verb

Forms pranks pranking pranked prankt

  1. noun A practical joke or mischievous trick. “play a prank”
  2. noun (obsolete) An evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception. “She played a cruel prank on him.”
  3. verb (transitive) To perform a practical joke on; to trick and make a fool of someone.
  4. verb (transitive) To make a prank call to (someone).
  5. verb (transitive, slang) To call someone's phone and hang up before they answer, so as to send them a notification (of a missed call) without incurring fees. “Hey man, prank me when you wanna get picked up.”
  6. verb (transitive, archaic) To adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously.
  7. verb (intransitive) To make an ostentatious show.

Synonyms

caper capriccio curvet gag gambade high jinks lark marlock monkeyshine practical joke prat reak rag shenanigan trick windup missed call buffoonery clowning japery frivolity harlequinade antic joke put-on

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English pranken (“to adorn, arrange one's attire”), probably from Middle Dutch pronken, proncken (“to flaunt, make a show, arrange one's attire”), related to German prangen (“to make a show, be resplendent”), Dutch prangen (“to squeeze, press”), Danish pragt (“pomp, splendor”), all from Proto-Germanic *pranganą, *prangijaną, *prag- (“to press, squeeze, thring”), from Proto-Indo-European *brengʰ- (“to press, squeeze”). Or, perhaps ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *brahtaz, similar to Dutch pracht (“splendor”), Swedish prakt (“glory, pomp”) (loaned from Low German).
Cognate with Middle Low German prunken (“to flaunt”), German prunken (“to flaunt”), Danish prunke (“to make a show, prank”). Sense of "mischievous act" from earlier verbal sense of "to be crafty or subtle, set in order, adjust". See also prink, prance, prong.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously; - -often followed by up; as, to prank up the body. See Prink.
  2. verb To make ostentatious show.
  3. noun A gay or sportive action; a ludicrous, merry, or mischievous trick; a caper; a frolic. Spenser.
  4. adjective Full of gambols or tricks. [Obs.]

Etymology [Cf. E. prink, also G. prangen, prunken, to shine, to make a show, Dan. prange, prunke, Sw. prunka, D. pronken.]

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