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

pagan

/ˈpeɪɡən/ adjective, noun, proper noun

Forms pagans

  1. adjective Relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions. “Under Christianization, many converted societies transformed their pagan deities into saints.”
  2. adjective (by extension, derogatory) Savage, immoral, uncivilized, wild.
  3. noun A person not adhering to a main world religion; a follower of a pantheistic or nature-worshipping religion. “This community has a surprising number of pagans.”
  4. noun (by extension, derogatory) An uncivilized or unsocialized person.
  5. noun (by extension, derogatory) An unruly, badly educated child.
  6. noun An outlaw biker who is a member of the Pagans MC.
  7. proper noun A male given name from Latin.
  8. proper noun (uncommon) A female given name.
  9. proper noun A surname.
  10. proper noun (dated) The city of Bagan, Myanmar.
  11. proper noun (historical) The 9th- to 13th-century Burmese kingdom which had its capital at this city.

Synonyms

heathen heathenish heathenly heathenous barbarian barbaric wolfish animalistic barbarious barbarous brutal brutish Gothic Gothlike grim incivil savage tenebrose truculent uncivil gentile infidel hedonist pleasure seeker ethnic

Antonyms

Christian Muslim Jewish

Etymology

From Middle English pagan (adjective and noun), from Latin pāgānus (“rural, rustic; civilian”), replaced Middle English payen from the same root.
The meaning “not Christian” arose in Vulgar Latin, probably from the 4th century, owing to the Roman countryside being largely non-Christian, or potentially from the “civilian” meaning—denoting those not in the “army of Christ”. As a self-designation of neopagans, attested since 1990.
Partly displaced native heathen, from Old English hǣþen.
Note the opposition: pagan, peasant (related via pāgus), rustic, savage (<< Latin silvāticus), villain (<< Latin vīllānus), boorish vs. urbane, civil, courteous (akin to court). Also note Ancient Greek ἄγροικος (ágroikos) vs. ἀστεῖος (asteîos).

Borrowed from Latin pāgānus (“rustic, rural”).

Borrowing from Burmese ပုဂံ (pu.gam). Doublet of Bagan.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun One who worships false goods; an idolater; a heathen; one who is neither a Christian, a Mohammedan, nor a Jew.
  2. adjective Of or pertaining to pagans; relating to the worship or the worshipers of false goods; heathen; idolatrous, as, pagan tribes or superstitions.

Etymology [L. paganus a countryman, peasant, villager, a pagan, fr. paganus of or pertaining to the country, rustic, also, pagan, fr. pagus a district, canton, the country, perh. orig., a district with fixed boundaries: cf. pangere to fasten. Cf. Painim, Peasant, and Pact, also Heathen.]

Etymology [L. paganus of or pertaining to the country, pagan. See Pagan, n.]

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