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

shirk

UK /ʃɜːk/ · US /ʃɝk/ verb, noun, proper noun

Forms shirks shirking shirked

  1. verb (transitive) To avoid, especially a duty, responsibility, etc.; to stay away from.
  2. verb (intransitive) To evade an obligation; to avoid the performance of duty, as by running away. “If you have a job, don't shirk from it by staying off work.”
  3. verb (transitive) To procure by petty fraud and trickery; to obtain by mean solicitation.
  4. noun One who shirks, who avoids a duty or responsibility.
  5. noun (Islam) The unforgivable sin of association (claiming something or someone can share in the oneness of God).
  6. proper noun A surname.

Synonyms

shrink blow off cop out dog doss duck flinch goldbrick goof off lollygag malinger procrastinate slack off soldier swing the lead weasel out dodger fiddle shrink from

Etymology

First use appears c. 1633, in the publications of Shackerley Marmion, apparently from association with shark (verb), or otherwise directly from German Schurke (“rogue, knave”).

Borrowed from Arabic شِرْك (širk).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To procure by petty fraud and trickery; to obtain by mean solicitation.
  2. verb To avoid; to escape; to neglect; --implying unfaithfulness or fraud; as, to shirk duty.
  3. verb To live by shifts and fraud; to shark.
  4. verb To evade an obligation; to avoid the performance of duty, as by running away.

Etymology [Probably the same word as shark. See Shark, v. t.]

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