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

break off

verb

Forms breaks off breaking off broke off broken off

  1. verb (transitive) To remove a piece from a whole by breaking or snapping. “She unwrapped the slab of chocolate and broke off a piece.”
  2. verb (intransitive) To become detached by breaking or snapping. “A chunk of rock broke off from the cliff face.”
  3. verb (transitive) To discontinue abruptly. “Both families want the lovers to break off any relationship they may have.”
  4. verb (intransitive) To end abruptly, either temporarily or permanently. “Our school doesn't break off until July.”
  5. verb (ambitransitive, billiards, snooker) To play the first shot in a frame of snooker, billiards or pool.
  6. verb (transitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To give (someone) (something); to allow (someone) to take (something); to grant (someone) a share or portion of (something). “If you help, I'll break you off a piece of the proceeds.”

Synonyms

cut short break short break discontinue stop chip chip off come off break away snap off knap cut off

Etymology

From Middle English breke of (“break off, terminate”), a dissimilated form of earlier Middle English ofbreken. By surface analysis, break + off.

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