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

sphinx

/ˈsfɪŋks/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms sphinxes sphinges sphinxing sphinxed the Sphinx sphynx spynx phynx

  1. noun (mythology) A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.
  2. noun (figurative) A person who keeps their thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic or impassive person.
  3. noun (dated) A mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), formerly classified as a baboon, and called sphinx baboon.
  4. noun A sphinx moth.
  5. noun (euphemistic, rare) A sphincter.
  6. verb (transitive) To decorate with sphinxes. “a marble sphinxed chimney-piece”
  7. verb (transitive, intransitive) To adopt the posture of the Sphinx. “A hot lion with a very bloated stomach … will adopt either a sphinxed or a squatting posture which takes some of the weight off its belly.”
  8. verb (transitive, intransitive) To be inscrutable, often through silence.
  9. verb (intransitive) To behave in a manner characteristic of the Sphinx.
  10. proper noun An ancient, large statue in Egypt, with the face of a man and the body of a lion, lying near the Great Pyramids.
  11. proper noun (Greek mythology) One of the many offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a winged lion-like creature with a woman's face, who dwelt near the city of Thebes in Boeotia and terrorized travelers by posing riddles, killing those who failed to answer correctly; after Oedipus solved her riddle, she committed suicide out of frustration.

Synonyms

enigma the Great Sphinx the Great Sphinx of Giza the Theban Sphinx the Thebean Sphinx the Sphinx of Thebes

Etymology

From Sphinx, from Middle English Spynx, from Latin Sphinx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps either from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to squeeze, to strangle”) (whence also sphincter), of Pre-Greek origin, or from Egyptian Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “divine image”, literally “living image”).

From Middle English Spynx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “bind tightly, to strangle”). The appurtenance of Egyptian Szp:p-A53 (šzp, “image, statue, sphinx”) or Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “living image”) remains unclear.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Hence: A person of enigmatical character and purposes, especially in politics and diplomacy.
  2. noun Any one of numerous species of large moths of the family Sphingidæ; --called also hawk moth.

Etymology [L., from Gr. sfi`gx, usually derived from sfi`ggein to bind tight or together, as if the Throttler.]

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