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

Christmas tree

UK /ˈkɹɪsməs tɹiː/ · US /ˈkɹɪsməs ˌtɹi/ noun

Forms Christmas trees Christmas's tree X'mas tree X-mas tree Xmas tree

  1. noun An evergreen tree (usually a conifer), or an artificial tree made to resemble this, which is typically decorated with lights and ornaments and often an angel or star at its tip, and used as a decoration during the Christmas holiday season.
  2. noun (informal) Something which is elaborately decorated.
  3. noun (bodybuilding) A pattern of muscles visible in the lower back, resembling in outline the shape of a conifer.
  4. noun (aviation, nautical, slang) A panel of indicator lights in an aircraft or a submarine.
  5. noun (US, aviation, historical) An alert area at an air base with aircraft parked in stubs arranged at a 45-degree angle to a central taxiway to enable them to move rapidly to a runway; these were constructed by the Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force during the Cold War (generally 1947–1991).
  6. noun (motor racing) A pole with lights, similar to a traffic signal, used for signalling the start of an automobile race.
  7. noun (oil industry, slang) A collection of gauges, valves, and other components installed at the top of wellhead to control the flow of gas or oil.
  8. noun (soccer) A 4-3-2-1 formation, with four defenders, three centre midfielders, two attacking midfielders and a striker in a triangular pattern.

Synonyms

holiday tree Yule tree New Zealand Christmas tree pohutukawa Christmas bush Ceratopetalum gummiferum flame tree fire tree Nuytsia floribunda European silver fir Abies alba amabilis fir white fir Pacific silver fir red silver fir Abies amabilis

Etymology

From Christmas + tree, a calque of German Weynacht Baum (obsolete, 17th c.), Weihnachtsbaum, from Weynacht, Weihnacht (literary or poetic variant of Weihnachten (“Christmas”)) + -s- (genitive interfix) + Baum (“tree”). The custom of Christmas trees was adopted in the United Kingdom from Germany in the 19th century, having been popularized by their use by the royal family during the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901.
Sense 3 (“Christmas party”) refers to the fact that there is usually a Christmas tree (sense 1) at the event.

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