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

engineer

UK /ˌɛn(d)ʒɪˈnɪə/ · US /ˌɛnd͡ʒɪˈnɪ(ə)ɹ/ noun, verb

Forms engineers engineering engineered

  1. noun A soldier engaged in designing or constructing military works for attack or defence, or other engineering works.
  2. noun (obsolete) A soldier in charge of operating a weapon; an artilleryman, a gunner.
  3. noun A person professionally engaged in the technical design and construction of large-scale private and public works such as bridges, buildings, harbours, railways, roads, etc.; a civil engineer.
  4. noun Originally, a person engaged in designing, constructing, or maintaining engines or machinery; now (more generally), a person qualified or professionally engaged in any branch of engineering, or studying to do so.
  5. noun (chiefly historical) A person who operates a steam engine; specifically (nautical), a person employed to operate the steam engine in the engine room of a ship.
  6. noun (US, firefighting) A person who drives or operates a fire engine (firefighting apparatus).
  7. noun (chiefly US, rail transport) A person who drives or operates a locomotive; a train driver.
  8. noun Preceded by a qualifying word: a person who uses abilities or knowledge to manipulate events or people. “a political engineer”
  9. verb To employ one's abilities and knowledge as an engineer to design, construct, and/or maintain (something, such as a machine or a structure), usually for industrial or public use.
  10. verb (specifically) To use genetic engineering to alter or construct (a DNA sequence), or to alter (an organism).
  11. verb To plan or achieve (a goal) by contrivance or guile; to finagle, to wangle.
  12. verb To formulate plots or schemes; to plot, to scheme.
  13. verb (rare) To work as an engineer.

Synonyms

hostler engineman machinate applied scientist technologist locomotive engineer railroad engineer engine driver mastermind direct organize organise orchestrate

Etymology

* Middle English enginour (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence, etc.; machine designer”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman enginour, engigneour [and other forms], and Middle French and Old French engigneor, engigneour, engignier (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence; architect; carpenter; craftsman; designer; planner; one who deceives or schemes”) (modern French ingénieur), from engin (“contraption, device; machine; invention; creativity, ingenuity; intelligence; deception, ruse, trickery”) + -eor, -or (suffix forming agent nouns); engin is derived from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature; intelligence, natural capacity; ability, skill, talent; (Medieval Latin) engine; machine”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + gignere (the present active infinitive of gignō (“to bear, beget, give birth to; to cause, produce, yield”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, give birth to; to produce”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns); and
* from engine + -er (occupational suffix); and
* from engine + -eer (suffix forming nouns denoting people associated with, concerned with, or engaged in specified activities), possibly modelled after Middle French ingénieur (a variant of Middle French, Old French engigneour; see above), and Italian ingegniere (“engineer”) (obsolete; modern Italian ingegnere).
The verb is derived from the noun.
* Medieval Latin, Late Latin ingeniārius (“engineer”)
* Medieval Latin ingeniator (“one constructing or using an engine”)
* Old Occitan engenhador, enginhador
* Portuguese engenhador (obsolete), engenheiro (“engineer”)
* Spanish engeñero (obsolete), ingeniero (“engineer”)

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A person skilled in the principles and practice of any branch of engineering. See under Engineering, n.
  2. noun One who manages as engine, particularly a steam engine; an engine driver.
  3. verb To lay out or construct, as an engineer; to perform the work of an engineer on; as, to engineer a road. J. Hamilton.
  4. verb To use contrivance and effort for; to guide the course of; to manage; as, to engineer a bill through Congress. [Colloq.]

Etymology [OE. enginer: cf. OF. engignier, F. ingénieur. See Engine, n.]

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