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

wow

/waʊ/ interjection, verb, noun

Also a form of woo

Forms wows wowing wowed

  1. interjection An indication of excitement, surprise, astonishment, or pleasure. “Wow, I sure was surprised!”
  2. interjection An expression of amazement, awe, or admiration. “Wow! How do they do that?”
  3. interjection Used sarcastically to express disapproval of something. “Wow… good job using all of our supplies on the first day.”
  4. verb (transitive, informal) To amaze or awe. “He really wowed the audience.”
  5. verb (intransitive, dialect) Of a cat, to mew.
  6. verb (intransitive, dialect) Of a dog, to howl.
  7. noun (informal) Anything exceptionally surprising, unbelievable, outstanding, etc.
  8. noun (informal) An utterance of "wow".
  9. noun (audio) A relatively slow form of flutter (pitch variation) which can affect both gramophone records and tape recorders.

Synonyms

adzooks ay caramba mirabile dictu chihuahua begorra bleeding heck bleeding Nora bless my heart bless my soul bless us blige blimey bloody hell bloody Nora blow me blow me backwards blow me down blow me over blow me pink belly laugh sidesplitter howler thigh-slapper scream riot

Antonyms

screw this

Etymology

Attested since the 16th century; borrowed from Scots wow; ultimately a natural exclamation.

Imitative.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “wow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details