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

catastrophe

/kəˈtæstɹəfi/ noun

Forms catastrophes

  1. noun Any large and disastrous event of great significance. “The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophe.”
  2. noun (insurance) A disaster beyond expectations.
  3. noun (narratology) The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot; the dénouement.
  4. noun (mathematics) A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.

Synonyms

calamity disaster tragedy cataclysm

Etymology

From Ancient Greek καταστροφή (katastrophḗ), from καταστρέφω (katastréphō, “to overturn”), from κατά (katá, “down, against”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things; a final event, usually of a calamitous or disastrous nature; hence, sudden calamity; great misfortune.
  2. noun The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “catastrophe” (best matches first).