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

American

/əˈmɛɹɪkən/ noun, adjective, proper noun

Forms Americans Am. Amer. Americanian Murican

  1. noun A citizen or national of the United States of America. “Roughly two-thirds of Americans default to the General American accent, with other dialects like Southern, AAVE, and Chicano usually being considered lower prestige outside of entertainment and politics.”
  2. noun Any inhabitant of the Americas.
  3. noun (historical) A citizen or inhabitant of British America.
  4. noun (archaic) An indigenous inhabitant of the Americas.
  5. noun (obsolete, 18th century to 19th century) An inhabitant of French or Spanish New World colonies.
  6. noun (informal, humorous, colloquial) The dialect of English spoken in and around the contiguous United States of America.
  7. noun (rail transport) A steam locomotive of the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement.
  8. noun (uncountable, US printing, rare, dated) A size of type smaller than German, 1-point type.
  9. adjective Of, from, or pertaining to the United States of America, its people, or its culture. “He married an American woman in order to get an American passport.”
  10. adjective (uncommon) Of, from, or pertaining to the Americas. “This is pure American powder from the foothills of Colombia.”
  11. adjective (historical) Of, from, or pertaining to British North America.
  12. adjective (archaic) Of, from, or pertaining to the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas.
  13. adjective (finance, of an option, not comparable) Able to be exercised on any date between its issue and expiry.
  14. proper noun A township in Allen County, Ohio, United States.

Synonyms

Yank Ameritard Seppo USian Usonian United Statian US-American United Statesian Americunt septic Usanian US-ian Usonan US American U.S. American Yankee Western Hemispherian New Worlder USAian American English American language

Etymology

From America + -n. Compare New Latin amerī̆canus.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Of or pertaining to America; as, the American continent: American Indians.
  2. adjective Of or pertaining to the United States. "A young officer of the American navy." Lyell. American ivy. See Virginia creeper.
  3. noun A native of America; --originally applied to the aboriginal inhabitants, but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America, and especially to the citizens of the United States.

Etymology [Named from Americus Vespucius.]

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