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

espousal

/əˈspaʊzl̩/ noun

Forms espousals

  1. noun A betrothal.
  2. noun A wedding ceremony.
  3. noun Adoption of a plan, cause, or idea.

Synonyms

bridal betrothal adoption acceptance acceptation

Etymology

From Middle English espousal, espousaille, from Old French espousailles, from Latin sponsalia (“a betrothal”), neuter plural of sponsalis, from spōnsus (“one betrothed, a spouse”); see spouse. By surface analysis, espouse + -al.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The act of espousing or betrothing; especially, in the plural, betrothal; plighting of the troths; a contract of marriage; sometimes, the marriage ceremony.
  2. noun The uniting or allying one's self with anything; maintenance; adoption; as, the espousal of a quarrel.

Etymology [OF. espousailles, pl., F. épousailles, L. sponsalia, fr. sponsalis belonging to betrothal or espousal. See Espouse, and cf. Sponsal, Spousal.]

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