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

ail

/ˈeɪ̯l/ verb, noun, adjective

Forms ails ailing ailed ailer ailest ile

  1. verb (transitive) To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.) “Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.”
  2. verb (intransitive) To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled.
  3. noun (obsolete) An ailment; trouble; illness.
  4. adjective (obsolete) Painful; troublesome.
  5. noun (West Country) The awn of barley or other types of corn.

Synonyms

garlic trouble pain

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English eilen, from Old English eġlan, eġlian (“to trouble, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *aglijan, from Proto-Germanic *aglijaną (“to trouble, vex”), cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (agljan, “to distress”).

Inherited from Middle English eyle, eile, from Old English eġle (“hideous, loathsome, hateful, horrid, troublesome, grievous, painful”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌿𐍃 (aglus, “hard, difficult”).

Inherited from Middle English eile, eyle, eiȝle, from Old English eġl (“an ail; awn; beard of barley; mote”), from Proto-Germanic *agilō (“awn”), related to *ahaz (“ear (of grain)”). Cognate with German Achel, Egel, Ägel.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To affect with pain or uneasiness, either physical or mental; to trouble; to be the matter with; --used to express some uneasiness or affection, whose cause is unknown; as, what ails the man I know not what ails him. What aileth thee, Hagar Gen. xxi. 17.
  2. verb To be affected with pain or uneasiness of any sort; to be ill or indisposed or in trouble.
  3. noun Indisposition or morbid affection. Pope.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ail”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details