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

ferret

/ˈfɛɹɪt/ noun, verb

Forms ferrets ferreting ferreted

  1. noun An often domesticated mammal (Mustela putorius furo) rather like a weasel, descended from the European polecat and often trained to hunt burrowing animals.
  2. noun A black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes).
  3. noun (figurative) A diligent searcher.
  4. verb To hunt game with ferrets.
  5. verb (by extension, ambitransitive) To uncover and bring to light by searching; usually to ferret out.
  6. noun (dated) A tape of silk, cotton, or ribbon, used to tie documents, clothing, etc. or along the edge of fabric.

Synonyms

black-footed ferret Mustela nigripes ferret out

Etymology

From Middle English furet, ferret, from Old French furet, from Vulgar Latin *furittum (“weasel, ferret”), diminutive of Latin fūr (“thief”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun An animal of the Weasel family (Mustela or Putorius furo), about fourteen inches in length, of a pale yellow or white color, with red eyes. It is a native of Africa, but has been domesticated in Europe. Ferrets are used to drive rabbits and rats out of their holes.
  2. verb To drive or hunt out of a lurking place, as a ferret does the cony; to search out by patient and sagacious efforts; --often used with out; as, to ferret out a secret.
  3. noun A kind of narrow tape, usually made of woolen; sometimes of cotton or silk; --called also ferreting.
  4. noun The iron used for trying the melted glass to see if is fit to work, and for shaping the rings at the mouths of bottles.

Etymology [F. furet, cf. LL. furo; prob. fr. L. fur thief (cf. Furtive); cf. Arm. fur wise, sly.]

Etymology [Cf. F. fureter. See Ferret, n.]

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