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

valerian

UK /vəˈlɪə.ɹi.ən/ · US /vəˈlɪ(ə)ɹ.i.ən/ noun, proper noun

Forms valerians Valerianus

  1. noun A hardy perennial flowering plant, Valeriana officinalis, with heads of sweetly scented pink or white flowers.
  2. noun More generally, any plant of the genus Valeriana.
  3. noun (uncountable) The root of Valeriana officinalis, used in herbal medicine.
  4. noun An extract of the dried roots of the Valeriana officinalis used in herbal medicine as a sedative.
  5. proper noun a Roman cognomen, notably borne by Publius Licinius Valerianus, a Roman emperor
  6. proper noun A male given name from Latin, of rare usage.
  7. proper noun A transliteration of the Russian male given name Валериа́н (Valerián).

Synonyms

allheal cat thyme

Etymology

From Old French valeriane or Medieval Latin valeriāna, a reinterpretation of what is found as German Baldrian after valēre (“to be powerful”) or also the gentilic name Valerius, which is seemingly borrowed in the Dark Age period from the late 6ᵗʰ to early 8ᵗʰ century from Turkic or Proto-Mongolic, when the Pannonian Avars were direct neighbours to the Germans, notably also present in Hungarian bojtorján (“burdock”), ultimately from Proto-Mongolic, reflected as
Middle Mongol ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷᠭᠠᠨ᠎ᠠ (balčirɣan-a, “false hellebore; angelica”), composed as ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷ (balčir, “infant; young, tender, fresh, rank”) + plant name suffix ᠭᠠᠨᠠ (-ɣana),
Mongolian балчиргана (balčirgana, “false hellebore; angelica”), composed as балчир (balčir, “infant; young, tender, fresh, rank”) + plant name suffix -гана (-gana).
See Ottoman Turkish بالدران (baldıran, “hemlock”) for Turkic cognates.

From Latin Valeriānus, from Valerius.

From Russian Валериа́н (Valerián).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any plant of the genus Valeriana. The root of the officinal valerian (V. officinalis) has a strong smell, and is much used in medicine as an antispasmodic. Greek valerian (Bot.), a plant (Polemonium cæruleum) with blue or white flowers, and leaves resembling those of the officinal valerian.

Etymology [LL. valeriana, perhaps from some person named Valerius, or fr. L. valere to be strong. powerful, on account of its medicinal virtues: cf. F. valériane.]

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