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

aback

/əˈbæk/ adverb, noun

Forms abacks

  1. adverb (archaic, Geordie) Towards the back or rear; backwards.
  2. adverb (archaic) In the rear; a distance behind.
  3. adverb By surprise; startled; dumbfounded. (see usage)
  4. adverb (nautical) Backward against the mast; said of the sails when pressed by the wind from the "wrong" (forward) side, or of a ship when its sails are set that way.
  5. noun (obsolete, Early Modern) An inscribed stone square.

Synonyms

unawares backwards rearwards aft abaft astern behind back

Etymology

From Middle English abak, from Old English onbæc, equivalent to a- (“towards”) + back. Compare West Frisian tebek (“aback”, adverb, literally “to/at back”), Swedish tillbaka (idem.).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adverb Toward the back or rear; backward. "Therewith aback she started." Chaucer.
  2. adverb Behind; in the rear. Knolles.
  3. noun An abacus. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Etymology [Pref. a- + back; AS. on bæc at, on, or toward the back. See Back.]

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