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

bittern

UK /ˈbɪtən/ · US /ˈbɪtəɹn/ noun, proper noun

Forms bitterns

  1. noun Several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
  2. noun The liquor remaining after halite (common salt) has been harvested from saline water (brine).
  3. noun The saline substance added to soy milk to coagulate it as a primary step in the production of tofu.
  4. noun (archaic) A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.
  5. proper noun A town in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia

Etymology

From Middle English bitour, botor, from Old French butor, from Gallo-Roman *butitaurus, a blend of Latin būtiō (“bittern”) and taurus (“bull, ox”).

From bitter with an unclear suffix, perhaps a dialect form of -ing.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A wading bird of the genus Botaurus, allied to the herons, of various species.
  2. noun The brine which remains in salt works after the salt is concreted, having a bitter taste from the chloride of magnesium which it contains.
  3. noun A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus Indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer. Cooley.

Etymology [OE. bitoure, betore, bitter, fr. F. butor; of unknown origin.]

Etymology [From Bitter, a.]

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