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

tawdry

UK /ˈtɔːdɹi/ · US /ˈtɔ.dɹi/ noun, adjective

Forms tawdries tawdrier tawdriest

  1. noun (obsolete) Tawdry lace.
  2. noun (obsolete) Anything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery.
  3. adjective Of clothing, appearance, etc., cheap and gaudy; showy.
  4. adjective Of a character, behavior, or situation, etc., unseemly, base, mean-spirited, shameful.

Synonyms

cheapie gaud tack cheapo ticky-tack bedizened blatant blingish brash campy catchpenny chichi chintzy corny crass crude flashy flaunting florid flossy brassy cheap flash garish gaudy gimcrack loud meretricious tacky tatty

Etymology

Shortened from tawdry lace; originally a corruption and rebracketing of Saint Audrey lace (from Old English Æðelþrȳð). The lace necklaces sold to pilgrims to Saint Audrey fell out of fashion in the 17th century, and so tawdry was reinterpreted as meaning “cheap” or “vulgar”.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Bought at the festival of St. Audrey. [Obs.]
  2. adjective Very fine and showy in colors, without taste or elegance; having an excess of showy ornaments without grace; cheap and gaudy; as, a tawdry dress; tawdry feathers; tawdry colors.
  3. noun A necklace of a rural fashion, bought at St. Audrey's fair; hence, a necklace in general. [Obs.]

Etymology [Said to be corrupted from Saint Audrey, or Auldrey, meaning Saint Ethelreda, implying therefore, originally, bought at the fair of St. Audrey, where laces and gay toys of all sorts were sold. This fair was held in Isle Ely, and probably at other places, on the day of the saint, which was the 17th of October.]

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