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

eggshell

/ˈɛɡʃɛl/ noun, adjective

Forms eggshells

  1. noun The shell around an egg.
  2. noun A pale off-white colour, like that of the eggshell of many chickens.
  3. adjective Of a pale yellowish-whitish colour, like that of the eggshell.
  4. adjective Exhibiting the thinness, translucency or near-transparency, and fragility of an eggshell. “eggshell porcelain”
  5. adjective Very matt, having a low reflexivity, like an eggshell. “This clear varnish is available in gloss, matt and eggshell finishes.”

Synonyms

shell

Etymology

From Middle English eggeshell, ege schelle, egg-shel, egg shelle (also as Middle English eye schell, ey-schel, ey-schelle), partially continuing Old English ǣġsċill, ǣġsċyll (“eggshell”), equivalent to egg + shell. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oaierskil (“eggshell”), Dutch eierschaal (“eggshell”), German Eierschale (“eggshell”), Danish æggeskal (“eggshell”), Swedish äggskal (“eggshell”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The shell or exterior covering of an egg. Also used figuratively for anything resembling an eggshell.
  2. noun A smooth, white, marine, gastropod shell of the genus Ovulum, resembling an egg in form.

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