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

underwrite

/ˈʌndəɹaɪt/ verb

Forms underwrites underwriting underwrote underwrit underwritten

  1. verb (transitive) To write below or under; subscribe.
  2. verb (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To subscribe (a document, policy etc.) with one's name.
  3. verb (transitive) To sign; to put one's name to.
  4. verb (transitive) To agree to pay by signing one's name; subscribe.
  5. verb (transitive) Specifically, to assume financial responsibility for something, and guarantee it against failure.
  6. verb (intransitive, insurance) To act as an underwriter.
  7. verb (transitive) To support, lend support to, guarantee the basis of.
  8. verb (obsolete, transitive) To submit to; put up with.

Synonyms

subvention subvent cover insure

Etymology

From Middle English underwriten, from Old English underwrītan (“to write at the foot of, write under, subscribe”). Compare Dutch onderschrijven (“to endorse”), German unterschreiben (“to sign; endorse”), Danish underskrive (“to sign; endorse”). By surface analysis, under- + write.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To write under something else; to subscribe.
  2. verb To subscribe one's name to for insurance, especially for marine insurance; to write one's name under, or set one's name to, as a policy of insurance, for the purpose of becoming answerable for loss or damage, on consideration of receiving a certain premium per cent; as, individuals, as well as companies, may underwrite policies of insurance. B. Jonson.
  3. verb To practice the business of insuring; to take a risk of insurance on a vessel or the like.

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