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

agate

/əˈɡeɪt/ noun, adverb

Forms agates

  1. noun (countable, uncountable, mineralogy) A semitransparent, uncrystallized silicate mineral and semiprecious stone, presenting various tints in the same specimen, with colors delicately arranged and often curved in parallel alternating dark and light stripes or bands, or blended in clouds; various authorities call it a variety of chalcedony, a variety of quartz, or a combination of the two.
  2. noun (uncountable, US printing, dated) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5+¹⁄₂-point.
  3. noun (countable, typography) One fourteenth of an inch.
  4. noun (countable, obsolete) A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.
  5. noun (countable) A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.;—so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.
  6. noun (countable) A marble made from agate.
  7. noun (slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.
  8. adverb (obsolete) On the way; agoing.

Synonyms

ruby aggie

Etymology

From Middle French agathe, from Latin achatēs, from Ancient Greek ἀχάτης (akhátēs, “agate”).

From Late Middle English agate, a gate. Equivalent to a- (“on”) + gate (“way, path”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adverb On the way; agoing; as, to be agate; to set the bells agate.
  2. noun A semipellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen. Its colors are delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds.
  3. noun A kind of type, larger than pearl and smaller than nonpareil; in England called ruby.

Etymology [Pref. a- on + gate way.]

Etymology [F. agate, It. agata, L. achates, fr. Gr. 1. (Min.) Defn: A semipellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen. Its colors are delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds. Note: The fortification agate, or Scotch pebble, the moss agate, the clouded agate, etc., are familiar varieties. 2. (Print.) Defn: A kind of type, larger than pearl and smaller than nonpareil; in England called ruby. Note: This line is printed in the type called agate. 3. A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals. [Obs.]

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