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

compost

UK /ˈkɒm.pɒst/ · US /ˈkɑm.poʊst/ noun, verb

Forms composts composting composted

  1. noun The decayed remains of organic matter that has rotted into a natural fertilizer. “Dig plenty of compost into clay or sandy soil to improve its structure.”
  2. noun (UK) A medium in which one can cultivate plants. “Once the seed tray is filled with compost, insert the seeds spaced 3 cm apart from one another.”
  3. noun (obsolete) A mixture; a compound.
  4. verb To produce compost, let organic matter decay into fertilizer. “If you compost your grass clippings, you can improve your soil.”

Etymology

From Middle English compost, from Old Northern French compost (“a mixture of leaves, manure, etc., for fertilizing land, also a condiment”), from Latin compositus (“composed”), from componere. Doublet of compote, which was taken from modern French, composite, and kompot.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A mixture; a compound. [R.]
  2. noun A mixture for fertilizing land; esp., a composition of various substances (as muck, mold, lime, and stable manure) thoroughly mingled and decomposed, as in a compost heap.
  3. verb To manure with compost.
  4. verb To mingle, as different fertilizing substances, in a mass where they will decompose and form into a compost.

Etymology [OF. compost, fr. L. compositus, p. p. See Composite.]

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