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

robot

UK /ˈɹəʊ.bɒt/ · US /ˈɹoʊ.bɑt/ noun

Forms robots

  1. noun (now historical) A system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.
  2. noun (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.
  3. noun A machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed. “We have a robot in the house that does the vacuuming.”
  4. noun (computing) A bot, software designed to perform a task.
  5. noun (figuratively) A person who does not seem to have any emotions or individuality.
  6. noun (South Africa) A traffic light (from earlier robot policeman).
  7. noun (surveying) A theodolite which follows the movements of a prism and can be used by a one-man crew.
  8. noun (dance, preceded by definite article) A style of dance popular in disco in which the dancer imitates the stiff movements of a stereotypical android robot.
  9. noun (Internet slang, 4chan slang) A habitual poster on the /r9k/ board on 4chan; a member of the /r9k/ community.

Synonyms

bot robo clanker automaton golem

Etymology

From German Robot, from a West Slavic language, ultimately related to Etymology 2, below.

Borrowed from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef.
Ultimately a cognate with Middle English arveth from Old English earfoþe, and German Arbeit; see dialectal erf. Doublet of etymology 1. Related to English orphan, but with a -t- suffix from Proto-Slavic instead of the -an- from Ancient Greek.
Compare Polish robotnik and Russian работник (rabotnik, “worker”), sometimes mistakenly cited as the direct source of the English word.

Referencing the origin of the name of the 4chan imageboard /r9k/ (created in 2008), so-called because it implements the ROBOT9000 algorithm by Randall Munroe to prevent the reposting of content.
Possibly overlapping with the sense of robot (“a person who does not seem to have any emotions”), alluding to autism, due to the prevalence of personal stories describing awkward or embarrassing situations on the board.

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