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

checkmate

/ˈt͡ʃɛkmeɪt/ interjection, noun, verb

Forms checkmates checkmating checkmated check and mate

  1. interjection (chess) Word called out by the victor when making a move that wins the game.
  2. interjection (by extension) Said when one has placed a person in a losing situation with no escape.
  3. noun (chess) The conclusive victory in a game of chess that occurs when an opponent's king is threatened with unavoidable capture.
  4. noun (figuratively, by extension) Any losing situation with no escape; utter defeat.
  5. verb (transitive, chess) To put the king of an opponent into checkmate. “My opponent checkmated me in four moves!”
  6. verb (transitive, by extension) To place in a losing situation that has no escape.

Synonyms

mate

Etymology

From Middle English chekmat, from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic شَاه مَاتَ (šāh māta), from Classical Persian شاه مات (šāh māt, “the king [is] amazed”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The position in the game of chess when a king is in check and cannot be released, --which ends the game.
  2. noun A complete check; utter defeat or overthrow.
  3. verb To check (an adversary's king) in such a manner that escape in impossible; to defeat (an adversary) by putting his king in check from which there is no escape.
  4. verb To defeat completely; to terminate; to thwart.

Etymology [F. échec et mat, fr. Per. shah mat ceckmate, lit., the king is dead, fr. Ar. mata he died, is dead. The king, when made prisoner, or checkmated, is assumed to be dead, and the game is finished. See Chess.]

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