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

vanilla

/vəˈnɪl.ə/ noun, adjective

Forms vanillas vanille nilla

  1. noun (countable) Any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.
  2. noun (countable) The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.
  3. noun (uncountable) The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.
  4. noun (uncountable) The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
  5. noun (uncountable) Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.
  6. noun (countable, sexuality, slang) Someone who is not into fetishism.
  7. noun (uncountable, gaming, slang) An unmodded version of a game.
  8. noun A yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.
  9. adjective (of flavor, etc.) Of vanilla.
  10. adjective (colloquial, chiefly computing, retronym) Standard, plain, default, unmodified, basic. “vanilla JavaScript”
  11. adjective (sexuality) Not kinky, not involving BDSM.
  12. adjective Plain; conventional; unimaginative. “a vanilla rendition of the concerto”

Synonyms

vanilla bean vanilla extract imitation vanilla stock normophilic vanillar

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish vainilla, a diminutive form of vaina (“pod”). "Plain" senses derive from the perceived plainness of vanilla ice cream.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A genus of climbing orchidaceous plants natives of tropical America.
  2. noun The long podlike capsules of Vanilla planifolia, and V. claviculata, remarkable for their delicate and agreeable odor, for the volatile, odoriferous oil extracted from them; also, the flavoring extract made from the capsules, extensively used in confectionery, perfumery, etc.

Etymology [NL., fr. Sp. vainilla, dim. of Sp. vaina a sheath, a pod, L. vagina; because its grains, or seeds, are contained in little pods.]

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