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

whit

/wɪt/ noun, proper noun

Also a form of with

Forms whits the Whit

  1. noun (dated, chiefly in the negative) The smallest part or particle imaginable; an iota.
  2. noun Whitsunday.
  3. noun The season of Whitsuntide.
  4. proper noun (originally thieves' cant, now archaic or historical) Newgate Prison in London, England (particularly as it was in the 15- and 1600s).

Synonyms

bit iota jot scrap ace atom thought atomy aught bissel continental crumb glimpse dab damn dash diddly glint dot spatter shred scintilla tittle smidgen smidgeon smidgin smidge

Etymology

From Middle English wiȝt, wight, from Old English wiht (“wight, person, creature, being, whit, thing, something, anything”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtą (“thing, creature”) or *wihtiz (“essence, object”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- (“cause, sake, thing”), from *wekʷ- (“to say, tell”). Cognate with Old High German wiht (“creature, thing”), Dutch wicht, German Wicht. Doublet of wight.

Shortening of the surname of Dick Whittington, London mayor who funded the rebuilding of the prison.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The smallest part or particle imaginable; a bit; a jot; an iota; --generally used in an adverbial phrase in a negative sentence. "Samuel told him every whit." 1 Sam. iii. 18. "Every whit as great." South.

Etymology [OE. wight, wiht, AS. wiht a creature, a thing. See Wight, and cf. Aught, Naught.]

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