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

rocket scientist

UK /ˌɹɒkɪt ˈsaɪəntɪst/ · US /ˌɹɑkət ˈsaɪəntəst/ noun

Forms rocket scientists

  1. noun An aerospace engineer who works with spacecraft.
  2. noun (hyperbolic, idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) One qualified to handle or understand things which are very complex or confusing; a very intelligent person. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that that idea won’t work.”

Synonyms

brain surgeon Einstein genius rocket surgeon brain brainbox brainiac deep thinker egghead intellectual mind superbrain thinker boffin bright spark geek nerd Poindexter propeller head shrewd article rocket engineer

Antonyms

addle-brain addlehead addle pate airhead baboon beanbrain beetlebrain beetlehead berk bimbo birdbrain blockhead

Etymology

From rocket + scientist.

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