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

billet

/ˈbɪlɪt/ noun, verb

Forms billets billeting billetting billeted billetted

  1. noun A short informal letter.
  2. noun A written order to quarter soldiers.
  3. noun A sealed ticket for a draw or lottery.
  4. noun A place where a soldier is assigned to lodge.
  5. noun Temporary lodgings in a private residence, such as is organised for members of a visiting sports team.
  6. noun An allocated space or berth in a boat or ship.
  7. noun (figurative) Berth; position.
  8. verb (transitive, of a householder etc.) To lodge soldiers, or guests, usually by order.
  9. verb (intransitive, of a soldier) To lodge, or be quartered, in a private house.
  10. verb (transitive) To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge.
  11. noun (metallurgy) A semi-finished length of metal.
  12. noun A short piece of wood, especially one used as firewood.
  13. noun A short cutting of sugar cane produced by a harvester or used for planting.
  14. noun (heraldry) A rectangle used as a charge on an escutcheon.
  15. noun (architecture) An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood, either square or round.
  16. noun (saddlery) A strap that enters a buckle.
  17. noun A loop that receives the end of a buckled strap.

Synonyms

note short letter line position post berth office spot place situation quarter canton

Etymology

From Middle English bylet, from Anglo-Norman billette (“list, schedule”), from bille + -ette, from Latin bulla (“document”).

From Middle French billette (“schedule”), from bullette, diminutive form of bulle (“document”), from Medieval Latin bulla, hence cognate with etymology 1 above.

From Middle English billet, bylet, belet, billette, from Old French billette, from bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“tree”)).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A small paper; a note; a short letter. "I got your melancholy billet." Sterne.
  2. noun A ticket from a public officer directing soldiers at what house to lodge; as, a billet of residence.
  3. verb To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. Hence: To quarter, or place in lodgings, as soldiers in private houses.
  4. noun A small stick of wood, as for firewood.

Etymology [F. billet, dim. of an OF. bille bill. See Bill a writing.]

Etymology [From Billet a ticket.]

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