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

pry

/pɹaɪ/ verb, noun, proper noun

Forms pries prying pried Prys

  1. verb To peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public.
  2. verb (figuratively) To inquire into something that does not concern one; to be nosy; to snoop. “I don't mean to pry, but could you tell me where you got that scarf?”
  3. verb (transitive, obsolete) To peer at (something) closely; also, to look into (a matter, etc.) thoroughly.
  4. noun An act of prying; a close and curious look.
  5. noun A person who is very inquisitive or nosy; a busybody, a nosey parker.
  6. noun (East Anglia, US) A tool for levering; a crowbar, a lever.
  7. verb To use leverage to open, raise, or widen (something); to prise or prize.
  8. verb (figuratively) Usually followed by out (of): to draw out or get (information, etc.) with effort.
  9. proper noun A surname.

Synonyms

prying Paul Pry prise prize prybar pry bar quarry wring crowbar wrecking bar lever jimmy intrude horn in nose poke

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English prien, pryen (“to look closely, peer into, pry, spy”) [and other forms], from Old English *prīwan, *prēowian (“to look narrowly, to squint at”), attested by Old English beprīwan, beprēwan (“to wink”); further etymology unknown, but probably akin to Old English *prēowot (“closing of the eyes”), attested only in combination – compare prēowthwīl (“blink or twinkling of an eye, moment”), princ (“a wink”): see prink.
The noun is derived from the verb.

The noun is probably a back-formation from prise, prize (“tool for levering, lever”), construed as the plural of pry.
The verb is either derived from the noun, or is a back-formation from prise (“to force open with a lever”), construed as pries, the third-person singular present form of pry.

* As an Irish surname, spelling variant of Prey, from Ó Préith, probably from na préith (“of the cattle-spoil”) (compare Latin praeda (“plunder, booty”)).
* As a German surname, a spelling variant of Prey, from breu (“brew”); see brauen. Comparable to the surname Preyer.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A lever; also, leverage. [Local, U. S. & Eng.] Pry pole, the pole which forms the prop of a hoisting gin, and stands facing the windlass.
  2. verb To raise or move, or attempt to raise or move, with a pry or lever; to prize. [Local, U. S. & Eng.]
  3. verb To peep narrowly; to gaze; to inspect closely; to attempt to discover something by a scrutinizing curiosity; --often implying reproach. " To pry upon the stars." Chaucer.
  4. noun Curious inspection; impertinent peeping.

Etymology [Corrupted fr. prize a lever. See Prize, n.]

Etymology [OE. prien. Cf. Peer to peep.]

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