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

flue

UK /fluː/ · US /flu/ noun

Forms flues

  1. noun A pipe or duct that carries gaseous combustion products away from the point of combustion (such as a furnace).
  2. noun An enclosed passageway in which to direct a current of air or other gases along.
  3. noun (obsolete, countable and uncountable) A woolly or downy substance; down, nap; a piece of this.
  4. noun In an organ flue pipe, the opening between the lower lip and the languet.

Synonyms

fluke flue pipe labial pipe

Etymology

From Middle English flue, flewe (“mouthpiece of a hunting horn”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a back-formation from Middle English *flews (mistaken as a plural), from Old English flēwsa (“a flow, flowing, flux”). Alternatively, perhaps an alteration of Middle English floute, fleute, flote (“a pipe”), see English flute. Compare also Middle Dutch vloegh (“groove, channel, flute of a fluted column”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun An inclosed passage way for establishing and directing a current of air, gases, etc.; an air passage; esp.: (a) A compartment or division of a chimney for conveying flame and smoke to the outer air. (b) A passage way for conducting a current of fresh, foul, or heated air from one place to another.
  2. noun Light down, such as rises from cotton, fur, etc.; very fine lint or hair. Dickens.

Etymology [Cf. OF. flue a flowing, fr. fluer to flow, fr. L. fluere (cf. Fluent); a perh. a corruption of E. flute.]

Etymology [Cf. F. flou light, tender, G. flau weak, W. llwch dust. sq. root84.]

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