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

shrew

/ʃɹuː/ noun, verb

Forms shrews shrewing shrewed shrow

  1. noun Any of numerous small, mouselike, chiefly nocturnal, mammals of the family Soricidae.
  2. noun Certain other small mammals that resemble true shrews.
  3. noun (derogatory) An ill-tempered, nagging woman: a scold.
  4. verb (obsolete, transitive) To beshrew; to curse.

Synonyms

ranny soricid battle axe bitch brim brimstone cat cockatrice crow dragon faggot fishwife harpy harridan hellcat jade nag nudnik scold she-devil termagant shrewmouse

Etymology

From Middle English schrewe, from Old English sċrēawa (“shrew”), from Proto-Germanic *skrawwaz (“thin; meagre; frail”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut; shorten; skimp”). Cognates include Old High German scrawaz (“dwarf”), Norwegian skrugg (“dwarf”).

From Middle English schrewen (“to make evil; curse”), from Middle English schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“wicked; evil; an evil person”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Wicked; malicious. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  2. noun Originally, a brawling, turbulent, vexatious person of either sex, but now restricted in use to females; a brawler; a scold.
  3. noun Any small insectivore of the genus Sorex and several allied genera of the family Sorecidæ. In form and color they resemble mice, but they have a longer and more pointed nose. Some of them are the smallest of all mammals.
  4. verb To beshrew; to curse. [Obs.] "I shrew myself." Chaucer.

Etymology [OE. shrewe, schrewe. Cf. Shrewd.]

Etymology [See Shrew, a.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “shrew” (best matches first).

All 12 Sanskrit matches →