-shire
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See also: shire
Englisch
[edit]Etymology
[edit]See shire.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /-ʃə/, /-ʃɪə/, /-ʃaɪə/ (see usage notes)
- (General American) IPA(key): /-ʃɚ/, /-ʃɪ(ə)ɹ/, /-ʃaɪɚ/ (see usage notes)
Suffix
[edit]-shire
- A combining form used in the names of British counties.
Usage notes
[edit]While multiple pronunciations are given above for this suffix, they are not freely interchangeable. In normal usage, most counties take /-ʃə(ɹ)/, though /-ʃɪə(ɹ)/ is also possible. However, in the names of some Scottish counties, it is sometimes pronounced as /-ʃaɪə(ɹ)/ (Scottish English /-ʃʌɪɹ/), reflecting the local pronunciation. Speakers of Scottish English may extend this pronunciation to all county names; it is also quite common in American English for county names (but not for American locales named after them).
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- “-shire”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.