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

shifty

/ˈʃɪfti/ adjective

Forms shiftier shiftiest

  1. adjective Subject to frequent changes in direction.
  2. adjective (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another; not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
  3. adjective (informal, idiomatic) Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal, or unreliable. “He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.”
  4. adjective Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.

Synonyms

devious shifting

Etymology

From shift + -y. Cognate with Dutch schiftig (“loose-fitting, open-textured”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Full of, or ready with, shifts; fertile in expedients or contrivance. Wright.

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