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

amain

/əˈmeɪn/ adverb, verb

Forms amains amaining amained amaine

  1. adverb (archaic, literary) With all of one's might; mightily; forcefully, violently.
  2. adverb (archaic) At full speed; also, in great haste.
  3. adverb (UK, dialectal) Out of control.
  4. adverb (obsolete) Exceedingly; overmuch.
  5. verb (nautical) To lower (the sail of a ship, particularly the topsail).
  6. verb (figuratively) To decrease or reduce (something).
  7. verb (intransitive, nautical) To lower the topsail in token of surrender; to yield.

Etymology

From a- (prefix with the sense ‘at; in; on; with’, used to show a state, condition, or manner) + main (“force, power, strength”). Main is derived from Middle English mayn (“strength”), from Old English mæġen (“strength”), from Proto-Germanic *maginą (“might, power, strength”), *maginaz (“strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”).

Borrowed from Spanish amainar (“to reef a sail (take in part of a sail to adapt its size to the force of the wind); to abate, die down, subside; to ease off, let up; of a person: to calm down, control one’s anger”); further etymology uncertain, probably from a regional Italian (Naples) word (compare Italian ammainare (“to lower or reef (a flag, sail, etc.)”)), from Vulgar Latin *invagīnare (“to sheathe (a sword); to put away, stow”), from Latin in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + vāgīna (“scabbard, sheath; covering, holder; vagina”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂ǵ- (“to cover; sheath”)); this would make it a doublet of invaginate.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adverb With might; with full force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly.
  2. adverb At full speed; in great haste; also, at once. "They fled amain." Holinshed.
  3. verb To lower, as a sail, a yard, etc.
  4. verb To lower the topsail, in token of surrender; to yield.

Etymology [Pref. a- + main. See 2d Main, n.]

Etymology [F. amener. See Amenable.]

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