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

gab

/ɡæb/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms gabs gabbing gabbed

  1. noun Idle chatter.
  2. noun The mouth or gob.
  3. noun One of the open-forked ends of rods controlling reversing in early steam engines.
  4. verb (intransitive, obsolete) To jest; to tell lies in jest; exaggerate; lie.
  5. verb (intransitive) To talk or chatter a lot, usually on trivial subjects.
  6. verb (transitive, obsolete) To speak or tell falsely.
  7. proper noun A diminutive of the male given name Gabriel.

Synonyms

chitchat chit-chat chit chat small talk gabfest gossip tittle-tattle chin wag chin-wag chin wagging chin-wagging causerie yak

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English gab, gabbe, from Old Norse gabb (“jest, mockery”) (whence also Old French gab, gap (“mockery, derision, scorn”)). Cognate with Icelandic gabb (“hoax”).

From Middle English gabben, from Old English gabban (“to scoff, mock, delude, jest”) and Old Norse gabba (“to mock, make sport of”); both from Proto-Germanic *gabbōną (“to mock, jest”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to be split, be forked, gape”).
Cognate with Scots gab (“to mock, prate”), North Frisian gabben (“to jest, sport”), Middle Dutch gabben (“to mock”), Middle Low German gabben (“to jest, have fun”).

Clipping of Gabriel.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The hook on the end of an eccentric rod opposite the strap.
  2. noun The mouth; hence, idle prate; chatter; unmeaning talk; loquaciousness. [Colloq.] Gift of gab, facility of expression.
  3. verb To deceive; to lie. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  4. verb To talk idly; to prate; to chatter. Holinshed.

Etymology [Cf. Gaff.]

Etymology [OE. gabbe gabble, mocking, fr. Icel. gabb mocking, mockery, or OF. gab, gabe; perh. akin to E. gape, or gob. Cf. Gab, v. i., Gibber.]

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