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

croft

UK /kɹɒft/ · US /kɹɔft/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms crofts crofting crofted

  1. noun An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small-scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter), especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate pastureland shared by other crofters.
  2. verb (intransitive) To do agricultural work on one or more crofts.
  3. verb (transitive, archaic) To place (cloth, etc.) on the ground in the open air in order to sun and bleach it.
  4. noun An underground chamber; a crypt, an undercroft.
  5. noun A cave or cavern.
  6. noun (archaic) A carafe.
  7. proper noun A surname from Middle English, from the common noun croft, and from places named Croft.
  8. proper noun A village and civil parish in Warrington borough, Cheshire (OS grid ref SJ6393).
  9. proper noun A small village in Croft and Yarpole parish, Herefordshire (OS grid ref SO4565).
  10. proper noun A village and civil parish in Blaby district, Leicestershire (OS grid ref SP5195).
  11. proper noun A village and civil parish in East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire (OS grid ref TF5061).
  12. proper noun An unincorporated community in Pratt County, Kansas, United States.

Synonyms

quillet

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English croft, crofft, croffte, croofte, crofte (“croft”), from Old English croft (“enclosed field”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Germanic *kruftaz (“a hill; a curve”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to bend; arch, crook, curve”); see also crop. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch kroft, krocht, crocht (“high and dry land; a field on the downs”), Middle Low German kroch (“enclosed piece of farmland or pasture”), Scots croft, craft (“croft”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

From Middle English croft, crofte, croufte, crufte (“crypt; vault”), from Old English cruft, from Latin crupta, crypta (“crypt; vault”), from Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ), feminine form of κρῠπτός (krŭptós, “concealed, hidden; secret”), from κρύπτω (krúptō, “to conceal, hide; to obscure”) (further etymology unknown) + -ος (-os). The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch croft, crocht, crochte, crogt, cruft, crufte (modern Dutch krocht (“underground cavity, cave; underground vault, crypt”)), Middle Low German krucht, kruft (“crypt”), Old High German cruft (Middle High German kruft (“cave; crypt”)). Doublet of grotto and crypt.

A variant of carafe.

* As an English surname, from the noun croft (“small piece of land”).
* Also as an English surname, variant of Craft.
* As a Danish, Swedish, German and Jewish surname, Americanized from Kraft.
* The place in Leicestershire is from Old English cræft (“device”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A small, inclosed field, adjoining a house; a small farm.

Etymology [AS. croft; akin to D. kroft hillock; cf. Gael. croit hump, croft.]

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