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

zap

/zæp/ noun, verb, interjection, proper noun

Forms zaps zapping zapped zap!

  1. noun (colloquial) A sound made by a sudden release of electricity or some similar energy.
  2. noun (colloquial) An electric shock. “You might feel a little zap touching a metal doorknob when the air is dry.”
  3. noun A raucous public demonstration designed to embarrass a public figure or celebrity as a form of political activism.
  4. noun (slang) The act of heating something in a microwave oven.
  5. verb (intransitive) To make a zap sound.
  6. verb To use a remote control to repeatedly fast-forward or change channels on a television.
  7. verb To strike (something or someone) with electricity or energy, as by shooting. “They spent the whole movie zapping bad guys into oblivion.”
  8. verb (US, military, slang, transitive) To kill; to eliminate.
  9. verb (slang, transitive) To do away with something.
  10. verb (slang, transitive) To enliven.
  11. verb (slang, transitive) To move or transport (something) in a brief time frame.
  12. verb (slang, transitive) To damage (especially electronics) with electrostatic discharge. “I think they zapped the processor.”
  13. interjection Representing the sound or action of a zap. “Then the computer went zap and I lost all my work.”
  14. proper noun A city and town in North Dakota.

Synonyms

channel surf channel hop vaporize nuke atomize atomise microwave micro-cook

Etymology

1920s, American English, of imitative origin.

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