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

bittersweet

/ˈbɪtɚˌswit/ adjective, noun

Forms bittersweets bitter-sweet

  1. adjective Both bitter and sweet. “bittersweet chocolate”
  2. adjective (figurative) Expressing contrasting emotions of pain and pleasure. “The break-up was very bittersweet; they both hurt to end it, but were glad it was over.”
  3. adjective Of bittersweet color (see the noun section, below).
  4. noun Bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara).
  5. noun Bittersweetness.
  6. noun (US) A vine, of the genus Celastrus, having small orange fruit that open to reveal red seeds.
  7. noun A variety of apple with a bittersweet taste.
  8. noun Any variety of clam in the family Glycymerididae
  9. noun A pinkish-orange color. Any color in between scarlet and orange.

Synonyms

bittersweet nightshade climbing nightshade deadly nightshade poisonous nightshade woody nightshade Solanum dulcamara American bittersweet climbing bittersweet false bittersweet staff vine waxwork shrubby bittersweet Celastrus scandens semisweet

Etymology

From Middle English bitterswete, biterswete, equivalent to bitter + sweet. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bitterswäit (“bittersweet”), West Frisian bittersoet (“bittersweet”), Dutch bitterzoet (“bittersweet”), German bittersüß (“bittersweet”), Danish bittersød (“bittersweet”), Swedish bittersöt (“bittersweet”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Sweet and then bitter or bitter and then sweet; esp. sweet with a bitter after taste; hence (Fig.), pleasant but painful.
  2. noun Anything which is bittersweet.
  3. noun A kind of apple so called. Gower.

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