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

char

UK /t͡ʃɑː/ · US /t͡ʃɑɹ/ verb, noun, proper noun

Forms chars charring charred charing chared chewre charr chare

  1. verb (ergative) To burn something to charcoal; to be burnt to charcoal. “I charred the wood.”
  2. verb (transitive) To burn (something) severely, so as to blacken it. “The fire charred her down to the bone.”
  3. verb (transitive) To burn (something) slightly or superficially so as to affect colour. “The chef charred the scallops just right.”
  4. noun A charred substance.
  5. noun Any of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus. “Among other native delicacies, they give you fresh char.”
  6. noun (obsolete) A time; a turn or occasion.
  7. noun (obsolete) A turn of work; a labour or item of business.
  8. noun An odd job, a chore or piece of housework.
  9. noun A charlady, a woman employed to do housework; cleaning lady. “I had to scrub the kitchen today, because the char couldn't come.”
  10. verb (obsolete) To turn, especially away or aside.
  11. verb To work, especially to do housework; to work by the day, without being a regularly hired servant.
  12. verb (obsolete) To perform; to do; to finish.
  13. verb To work or hew (stone, etc.)
  14. noun (computing, programming) A character (text element such as a letter or symbol).
  15. noun (colloquial) A character (being involved in the action of a story).
  16. proper noun A nickname for Charlotte
  17. proper noun A nickname for Charlene
  18. proper noun A short river in west Dorset, England; in full, the River Char.

Synonyms

coal blacken scorch sear singe charcoal charlady charwoman cleaning lady cleaning woman woman charr

Etymology

Back-formation from charcoal.

Unknown, perhaps from Celtic, such as Irish ceara (“fiery red”) (found in personal names). Or, perhaps borrowed from Middle Low German schar (“flounder, dab”), from Old Saxon skard, from Proto-Germanic *skardaz, related to *skeraną (“to cut”), referring to its shape. If so, related to shard.

From Middle English cherre (“odd job”), from Old English ċierr (“a turn, change, time, occasion, affair, business”), from ċierran (“to turn, change, turn oneself, go, come, proceed, turn back, return, regard, translate, persuade, convert, be converted, agree to, submit, make to submit, reduce”), from Proto-Germanic *karzijaną (“to turn”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gers- (“to bend, turn”).
Cognate with Dutch keer (“a time, turn, occasion”), German Kehre (“a turn, bight, bend”) and kehren (“to sweep”) or umkehren (“to return or reverse”). More at chore, ajar.

Clipping of character. Used as the name of a data type in some programming languages, including notably C.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun One of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus, allied to the spotted trout and salmon, inhabiting deep lakes in mountainous regions in Europe. In the United States, the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is sometimes called a char.
  2. noun A car; a chariot. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  3. noun Work done by the day; a single job, or task; a chore. [Written also chare.] [Eng.]
  4. verb To perform; to do; to finish. [Obs.] Nores.

Etymology [Ir. cear, Gael. ceara, lit., red, blood- colored, fr. cear blood. So named from its red belly.]

Etymology [F.]

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