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

skunk

/skʌŋk/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms skunks skunking skunked scunck

  1. noun Any of various mammals of the subfamily Mephitinae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black coat with white markings and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
  2. noun (slang, derogatory, dated) A despicable person.
  3. noun (slang, derogatory, dated) Anything very bad; a stinker.
  4. noun (slang) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.
  5. noun (cribbage) A win by thirty or more points. (A double skunk is sixty or more, a triple skunk ninety or more.)
  6. verb (transitive, especially of a skunk) To spray someone with a strong-smelling liquid.
  7. verb (transitive, slang) To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points. “I skunked him at cards.”
  8. verb (cribbage) To win by thirty or more points.
  9. verb (intransitive, of beer) To go bad, to spoil.
  10. noun A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture.
  11. noun Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish.
  12. proper noun A river in Iowa, United States; tributary of the Mississippi.
  13. proper noun A river in Morrison County, Minnesota, United States; tributary of the Platte.

Synonyms

rotter dirty dog rat stinker stinkpot bum puke crumb lowlife scum bag so-and-so git shutout pot grass green goddess dope weed gage sess sens smoke locoweed Mary Jane polecat wood pussy lurch

Etymology

Borrowed from an unattested Southern New England Eastern Algonquian word cognate with Abenaki segôgw (literally “he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”). Doublet of Chicago.

Blend of skinhead + punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).

From skunkweed (“certain highly aromatic marijuana”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any one of several species of American musteline carnivores of the genus Mephitis and allied genera. They have two glands near the anus, secreting an extremely fetid liquid, which the animal ejects at pleasure as a means of defense.
  2. verb In games of chance and skill: To defeat (an opponent) (as in cards) so that he fails to gain a point, or (in checkers) to get a king. [Colloq.
  3. verb U. S.]

Etymology [Contr. from the Abenaki (American Indian) seganku.]

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