Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

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)

-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.

preciosity

UK /ˌpɹɛʃiˈɒsəti/ · US /ˌpɹɛʃiˈɑsəti/ noun

Forms preciosities

noun (usually derogatory, uncountable) The quality of being overly refined in an affected way (often used to describe speech or writing, but also visual art and dress).
noun (usually derogatory, countable) An instance of preciosity; something that is overly refined in an affected way.
noun (obsolete, uncountable) The quality of being precious (of high value or worth).
noun (obsolete, countable) Something of high value or worth.

Synonyms

From Middle English preciosite, from Middle French preciosité, from Latin pretiōsitās (“great value; high price”).

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