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

gam

/ɡæm/ noun, verb

Forms gams gamming gammed

  1. noun (slang, dated) A person's leg, especially an attractive woman's leg.
  2. noun (collective) A group of whales, or rarely also of other large sea animals; a pod.
  3. noun (by extension) A social gathering of whalers (whaling ships).
  4. verb (nautical, ambitransitive) To pay a social visit on another ship at sea.
  5. verb (US, dialect) To engage in social intercourse anywhere.

Etymology

From Italian gamba (“leg”). Doublet of gamb, gamba, jamb, and jambe. Compare gammon and ham.

Uncertain but surely formed within English; etymons may include game or gammon.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To have a gam with; to pay a visit to, esp. among whalers at sea.

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