Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

telish

/ˈtɛlɪʃ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: tel-ish
IPA: /ˈtɛlɪʃ/

9

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

Punish (an innocent person) for the sake of deterrence; subject (a person) to telishment.

Example Sentences

"How is one to limit the risks involved in allowing such systematic deception? How is one to avoid giving anything short of complete discretion to the authorities to telish anyone they like?"

Etymology

Coined by John Rawls in his 1955 paper “Two Concepts of Rules”. Probably a portmanteau of the Ancient Greek τέλος (télos, “result”, “end”, loosely “the greater good”) and the English (pun)ish, after telishment.

Inflected Forms

telishes (present, singular) telishing (participle, present) telished (participle, past) telished (past)

Questions

How do you pronounce telish?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈtɛlɪʃ/.
What does telish mean?: Punish (an innocent person) for the sake of deterrence; subject (a person) to telishment.
Where does telish come from?: Coined by John Rawls in his 1955 paper “Two Concepts of Rules”. Probably a portmanteau of the Ancient Greek τέλος (télos, “result”, “end”, loosely “the greater good”) and the English (pun)ish, after telishment.

How to pronounce telish

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “telish”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈtɛlɪʃ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “telish”.
Repeat and practice — Say “telish” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.