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

alp

/ælp/ noun

Forms alps

  1. noun A very high mountain. Specifically, one of the Alps, the highest chain of mountains in Europe.
  2. noun An alpine meadow.

Etymology

Late Middle English, back-formation from alps pl, via French from Latin Alpes (“high mountains, especially those of Switzerland”). Compare Old Saxon elbon (“Alps”), Old High German Alpūn (“Alps”); Old High German alba (“alp, mountain”)).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A very high mountain. Specifically, in the plural, the highest chain of mountains in Europe, containing the lofty mountains of Switzerland, etc. Nor breath of vernal air from snowy alp. Milton.
  2. noun Fig.: Something lofty, or massive, or very hard to be surmounted.
  3. noun A bullfinch. Rom. of R.

Etymology [L. Alpes the Alps, said to be of Celtic origin; cf. Gael. alp a high mountain, Ir. ailp any huge mass or lump: cf. F. Alpes.]

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