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

sleek

/sliːk/ adjective, adverb, verb, noun

Forms sleeker sleekest sleeks sleeking sleeked

  1. adjective Having an even, smooth surface; smooth “sleek hair”
  2. adjective Glossy.
  3. adjective Not rough or harsh.
  4. adjective Slim and streamlined; not plump, thick, or stocky.
  5. adjective (of stock animals) Healthy, well-fed and well-groomed; in good condition.
  6. adverb (dated, colloquial) With ease and dexterity.
  7. verb (transitive) To make smooth or glossy; to polish.
  8. verb (transitive, dated) To calm or soothe.
  9. verb (intransitive, dated) To glide.
  10. noun That which makes smooth; varnish.

Synonyms

frictionless silky downy even flat lanate level silken silklike slick slight smooth velutinous velvety glacé sheeny glassy glossy lacquerlike satiny streamlined aerodynamic flowing

Etymology

A late variant of slick; cognate to German schleichen (Old High German slihhan) and Dutch slijk (“mud, slime”). Compare slink.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Having an even, smooth surface; smooth; hence, glossy; as, sleek hair. Chaucer.
  2. adjective Not rough or harsh.
  3. adverb With ease and dexterity. [Low]
  4. noun That which makes smooth; varnish. [R.]

Etymology [OE. slik; akin to Icel. slikr, and OE. sliken to glide, slide, G. schleichen, OHG. slihhan, D. slik, slijk, mud, slime, and E. slink. Cf. Slick, Slink.]

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