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

shanghai

UK /ʃæŋˈhaɪ/ · US /ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/ verb, noun, proper noun

Forms shanghais shanghaiing shanghaied shanghai'd shanghae shangeye Shang-hai Shang-hae Shanhae Chang-hai

  1. verb (transitive) To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly:
  2. verb To press-gang sailors, especially (historical) for shipping or fishing work.
  3. verb (US law enforcement slang) To trick a suspect into entering a jurisdiction in which they can be lawfully arrested.
  4. verb (US military slang) To transfer a serviceman against their will.
  5. verb (transitive) To commandeer, hijack, or otherwise (usually wrongfully) appropriate a place or thing. “Let's see if we can shanghai a room for a couple of hours.”
  6. noun (often capitalized, dated) A breed of chicken with large bodies, long legs, and feathered shanks.
  7. noun (US, obsolete) A kind of daub.
  8. noun (US, obsolete) A tall dandy.
  9. noun (darts, often capitalized) A kind of dart game in which players are gradually eliminated ("shanghaied"), usually either by failing to reach a certain score in 3 quick throws or during a competition to hit a certain prechosen number and then be the first to hit the prechosen numbers of the other players.
  10. noun (Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of slingshot.
  11. verb (Australia, New Zealand) To hit with a slingshot.
  12. proper noun A major port city and direct-administered municipality of China, the largest urban area in China.
  13. proper noun A major international port including the eastern coast of Shanghai Municipality and the northeastern islands of Zhejiang Province.

Synonyms

slingshot Paris of the East impress

Etymology

1871, from the important Chinese port Shanghai, as a verb with reference to the former practice by some shippers on the West Coast of the United States of press-ganging crews for fishing or shipping in the Pacific Ocean.

From Scottish shangan, from Scottish Gaelic seangan, influenced by the Chinese city.

c. 1840, likely from an English-derived romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of Chinese 上海 (Shànghǎi), reinforced by Wade–Giles, Postal Romanization, and Hanyu Pinyin.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To intoxicate and ship (a person) as a sailor while in this condition. [Written also shanghae.] [Slang, U.S.]
  2. noun A large and tall breed of domestic fowl.

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