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

birr

UK /bɜː/ · US /bɝ/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms birrs birring birred

  1. noun (Scotland) Strength, vigor, energy.
  2. noun (Scotland) The force of movement; rush, impetus, momentum, driving force.
  3. noun (Scotland) A whirring noise.
  4. noun (Scotland) A strong trilling.
  5. verb (Scotland) To make a whirring noise; make a noise like that of revolving wheels, or of millstones at work.
  6. verb (Scotland) To lurch or set to spinning.
  7. noun The currency of Ethiopia, divided into 100 santims.
  8. proper noun A surname.
  9. proper noun A community in Middlesex Centre municipality, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada.
  10. proper noun A town in County Offaly, Ireland, originally named Parsonstown (Irish grid ref N 0605).
  11. proper noun A municipality in Aargau canton, Switzerland.

Synonyms

ETB whir whirr whirring whizz whiz purr

Etymology

From Middle English bir (“favorable or strong wind”), from Old English byre (“strong wind, storm”); cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk bør, Icelandic byrr (“sailing winds”), Albanian borë (“snow”), and Polish burza (“storm, thunderstorm”).

Borrowed from Amharic ብር (bər, “silver”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To make, or move with, a whirring noise, as of wheels in motion.
  2. noun A whirring sound, as of a spinning wheel.
  3. noun A rush or impetus; force.

Etymology [Cf. OE. bur, bir, wind, storm wind, fr. Icel. byrr wind. Perh. imitative.]

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