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

sheldrake

noun, proper noun

Forms sheldrakes Sheldrick

  1. noun An Old World duck of the genus Tadorna (shelducks).
  2. noun A male shelduck.
  3. noun A merganser.
  4. noun The call sign for an artillery officer.
  5. proper noun A surname transferred from the nickname.

Synonyms

vulpanser merganser fish duck sawbill

Etymology

From Middle English sheld- (“parti-colored”) (akin to Middle Dutch shillede) + drake (“male duck”).

From sheldrake, a nickname for a vain or showy person.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any one of several species of large Old World ducks of the genus Tadorna and allied genera, especially the European and Asiatic species. (T. cornuta, or tadorna), which somewhat resembles a goose in form and habit, but breeds in burrows.
  2. noun Any one of the American mergansers.

Etymology [Sheld + drake.]

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