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

snowbird

UK /ˈsnəʊbɜːd/ · US /ˈsnoʊbɝːd/ noun

Forms snowbirds

  1. noun A bird, Junco hyemalis, the dark-eyed junco.
  2. noun A migratory bird seen primarily in the winter time.
  3. noun The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis).
  4. noun A person, usually one who is retired, who travels from a cold climate to a warmer one in the winter; one who overwinters elsewhere.
  5. noun (US military slang) One who enlists in fall to desert after winter.
  6. noun (slang) Someone who uses cocaine illicitly.

Synonyms

fieldfare Turdus pilaris snow bunting snowflake Plectrophenax nivalis junco

Etymology

From snow + bird.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “snowbird”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details