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

wu

UK /ˌdʌb.əl.juːˈjuː/ · US /ˌdʌb.əl.juˈju/ noun, proper noun

Also a form of boo woo

Forms wus

  1. noun (historical) A Chinese shaman.
  2. proper noun (historical) A county of imperial and Republican China around Suzhou.
  3. proper noun (historical) A commandery of imperial China around Suzhou.
  4. proper noun The family of Chinese languages spoken in that region, including Shanghainese and Suzhounese, the second-most spoken family after Mandarin.
  5. proper noun (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Ji family from Wuxi and then Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty.
  6. proper noun A common surname from Chinese:
  7. proper noun (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Sun family from Ezhou and Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.
  8. proper noun (historical) The kingdom ruled by Li Zitong from Yangzhou and Hangzhou during the interregnum following China's Sui dynasty.
  9. proper noun (historical) The kingdom ruled by the Yang family from Yangzhou during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.
  10. proper noun A surname from Chinese.
  11. proper noun (historical) An epithet of numerous kings and emperors in Chinese history who were honored with variants of the posthumous name Wuwang or Wudi.
  12. proper noun A river in Guizhou, China, a tributary of the Yangtze.
  13. proper noun A river in Hunan, China, a tributary of the Yuan.

Synonyms

Wuxian Wuhsien Wu-hsien Wujun Wu-chun Gou Wu Gouwu Gong Wu Gongwu Dong Wu Dongwu Eastern Wu Sun Wu Huainan Hongnong Southern Wu Yang Wu Wuyue Gusu Helu City Wu dialect Shanghai dialect

Etymology

From the Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin Chinese 巫 (wū, “shaman”).

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 吳 /吴 (Wú). Doublet of O.

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 武 (Wǔ, “war, warrior, warlike”).

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 烏 /乌 (Wū or Wù, “crow, raven, black”).

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