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

shrewd

/ʃɹuːd/ adjective

Forms shrewder shrewdest shrewde

  1. adjective Showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters.
  2. adjective Artful, tricky or cunning.
  3. adjective (informal) streetwise, street-smart.
  4. adjective Knowledgeable, intelligent, keen.
  5. adjective Nigh accurate. “a shrewd guess”
  6. adjective Severe, intense, hard. “a shrewd blow, or assault”
  7. adjective Sharp, snithy, piercing. “a shrewd wind”
  8. adjective (archaic) Bad, evil, threatening.

Synonyms

astute sharp calculating calculative conniving scheming

Etymology

From Middle English schrewed (“depraved; wicked”, literally “accursed”), from schrewen (“to curse; beshrew”), from schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“evil or wicked person/thing”), from Old English sċrēawa (“wicked person”, literally “biter”). Equivalent to shrew + -ed. More at shrew.
The sense of "cunning" developed in early 16ᵗʰ c., gradually gaining a positive connotation by 17ᵗʰ c.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence, vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious; rough; unfair; shrewish. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  2. adjective Artful; wily; cunning; arch.

Etymology [Originally the p. p. of shrew, v.t.]

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

Sanskrit

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

All 17 Sanskrit matches →