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

tack

/tæk/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms tacks tacking tacked tache

  1. noun A small nail with a flat head.
  2. noun A thumbtack.
  3. noun (sewing) A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
  4. noun (nautical) The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
  5. noun (nautical) A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
  6. noun (figurative) A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
  7. noun (nautical) The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
  8. noun (nautical) The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
  9. verb (transitive) To nail (something) with a tack (small nail with a flat head).
  10. verb To sew/stitch with a tack (loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth).
  11. verb To weld with initial small welds to temporarily fasten in preparation for full welding.
  12. verb (nautical) To maneuver a sailing vessel so that its bow turns through the wind, i.e. the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
  13. verb (intransitive, nautical) To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
  14. verb To add something as an extra item. “to tack (something) onto (something)”
  15. verb Synonym of tack up (“to prepare a horse for riding by equipping it with a tack”).
  16. verb (slang, obsolete) To join in wedlock.
  17. noun A stain; a tache.
  18. noun (obsolete) A peculiar flavour or taint. “a musty tack”
  19. noun (colloquial) That which is tacky; something cheap and gaudy.
  20. noun (law, Scotland and Northern England) A contract by which the use of a thing is set, or let, for hire; a lease.

Synonyms

coming about biscuit bread tack weld change tack beat tack up cheapie gaud tawdry cheapo ticky-tack stable gear saddlery sheet mainsheet weather sheet shroud tacking wear round assemble piece put together set up tack together baste append tag on tack on hang on

Antonyms

wear gybe run

Etymology

From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō (“twig, branch, shoot”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dHgʰ-n-, from the root *déHgʰ- (“to pinch; to tear, rip, fray”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Takke (“bough; branch; twig”), West Frisian takke (“branch”), tûk (“branch, smart, sharp”), Dutch tak (“twig; branch; limb”), German Zacke (“jag; prong; spike; tooth; peak”).

From Middle English takken (“to attach; nail”), from the noun (see above).

From an old or dialectal form of French tache. See techy. Doublet of tache.

Back-formation from tacky.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A stain; a tache. [Obs.]
  2. noun A peculiar flavor or taint; as, a musty tack. [Obs. or Colloq.]
  3. noun A small, short, sharp-pointed nail, usually having a broad, flat head.
  4. noun That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix. See Tack, v. t., 3. Macaulay.

Etymology [From an old or dialectal form of F. tache. See Techy.]

Etymology [OE. tak, takke, a fastening; akin to D. tak a branch, twig, G. zacke a twig, prong, spike, Dan. takke a tack, spike; cf. also Sw. tagg prickle, point, Icel. tag a willow twig, Ir. taca a peg, nail, fastening, Gael. tacaid, Armor. & Corn. tach; perhaps akin to E. take. Cf. Attach, Attack, Detach, Tag an end, Zigzag.]

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