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

pyrrhic

/ˈpɪ.ɹɪk/ adjective, noun

Forms pyrrhics

  1. adjective (prosody) Of or characterized by pyrrhics (metrical feet with two short syllables).
  2. adjective (Ancient Greece) Relating to Pyrrhus, a Macedonian king, or some of his costly victories he had while fighting Rome.
  3. noun An Ancient Greek war dance.
  4. noun (prosody) A metric foot with two short or unaccented syllables.
  5. adjective (Ancient Greece, not comparable) Of or relating to Pyrrhus (319/318–272 BCE), Greek general and statesman. “The Pyrrhic army lost the Pyrrhic war.”
  6. adjective (by extension) Achieved at too great a cost or detriment to have been worthwhile (as a victory, accomplishment, etc).

Synonyms

dibrach

Etymology

From Latin pyrrhichius (“dibrach”), from πυρρίχη (purrhíkhē, “war dance”), from πυρρός (purrhós, “flame-colored, red”), from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Of or pertaining to an ancient Greek martial dance. " ye have the pyrrhic dance as yet." Byron.
  2. adjective Of or pertaining to a pyrrhic, or to pyrrhics; containing pyrrhic; as, a pyrrhic verse.
  3. noun An ancient Greek martial dance, to the accompaniment of the flute, its time being very quick.
  4. noun A foot consisting of two short syllables.

Etymology [Gr. pyrrhique, fem.]

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