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

squinch

/skwɪnt͡ʃ/ noun, verb

Forms squinches squinching squinched

  1. noun (architecture) A structure constructed between two adjacent walls to aid in the transition from a polygonal to a circular structure, as when a dome is constructed on top of a square room.
  2. verb (transitive) To scrunch up (one's face, etc.).

Synonyms

flinch funk cringe shrink wince recoil quail squint

Etymology

Alteration of earlier scunch (“back part of the side of an opening”), short for scuncheon.

Uncertain. Probably blend of squint + pinch. Compare squink-eyed, variant of squint-eyed, so perhaps it is at least partly an altered form of squint.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A small arch thrown across the corner of a square room to support a superimposed mass, as where an octagonal spire or drum rests upon a square tower; --called also sconce, and sconcheon.

Etymology [Corrupted fr. sconce.]

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