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

busy

/ˈbɪz.i/ adjective, noun, verb

Forms busier busiest busies busying busied busie

  1. adjective Crowded with business or activities; having a great deal going on. “Be careful crossing that busy street.”
  2. adjective Engaged with or preoccupied by an activity or person. “The director cannot see you now: he's busy.”
  3. adjective Having much work to do; having much to get done.
  4. adjective Having a lot going on; complicated or intricate. “Flowers, stripes, and checks in the same fabric make for a busy pattern.”
  5. adjective Officious; meddling.
  6. noun (slang, UK, Liverpool, derogatory) A police officer.
  7. verb (transitive, usually reflexive) To make somebody busy or active; to occupy. “On my vacation I'll busy myself with gardening.”

Synonyms

heavy bustling swamped occupy fussy interfering meddlesome meddling officious busybodied engaged in use

Antonyms

idle

Etymology

From Middle English bisy, busie, from Old English bisiġ (“busy, occupied, diligent”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisīg (“diligent; zealous; busy”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian biesich (“active, diligent, hard-working, industrious”), Dutch bezig (“busy”), Low German besig (“busy”). The spelling with ⟨u⟩ represents the pronunciation of the West Midland and Southern dialects while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɪ/ is from the dialects of the East Midlands.

From Middle English bisien, from Old English bisgian (“to occupy, employ, trouble, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisīgōn. Cognate with Old Frisian bisgia (“to use”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Engaged in some business; hard at work (either habitually or only for the time being); occupied with serious affairs; not idle nor at leisure; as, a busy merchant.
  2. adjective Constantly at work; diligent; active.
  3. verb To make or keep busy; to employ; to engage or keep engaged; to occupy; as, to busy one's self with books.

Etymology [OE. busi, bisi, AS. bysig; akin to D. bezig, LG. besig; cf. Skr. bh to be active, busy.]

Etymology [AS. bysgian.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “busy” (best matches first).

All 31 Sanskrit matches →