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

gasp

UK /ɡɑːsp/ · US /ɡæsp/ verb, noun, interjection

Forms gasps gasping gasped

  1. verb (intransitive) To draw in the breath suddenly, as if from a shock. “The audience gasped as the magician disappeared.”
  2. verb (intransitive) To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion; to respire with heaving of the breast; to pant. “We were all gasping when we reached the summit.”
  3. verb (transitive) To speak in a breathless manner. “The old man gasped his last few words.”
  4. verb To pant with eagerness or excitement; to show vehement desire. “I'm gasping for a cup of tea.”
  5. noun A short, sudden intake of breath. “The audience gave a gasp of astonishment”
  6. noun (UK, slang): A draw or drag on a cigarette (or gasper). “I'm popping out for a gasp.”
  7. interjection (humorous) The sound of a gasp. “Gasp! What will happen next?”

Synonyms

pant puff heave

Etymology

From Middle English gaspen, gayspen (“to gape, outbreathe”), related to and likely derived from Old Norse geispa (“to yawn”) or its descendant Danish gispe, which may be related to gapa (“to gape”).

Coined by Larry Sanger in 2025.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To open the mouth wide in catching the breath, or in laborious respiration; to labor for breath; to respire convulsively; to pant violently.
  2. verb To pant with eagerness; to show vehement desire.
  3. verb To emit or utter with gasps; --with forth, out, away, etc. And with short sobs he gasps away his breath. Dryden.
  4. noun The act of opening the mouth convulsively to catch the breath; a labored respiration; a painful catching of the breath. At the last gasp, at the point of death. Addison.

Etymology [OE. gaspen, gaispen, to yawn, gasp, Icel. geispa to yawn; akin to Sw. gäspa, Dan. gispe to gasp.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “gasp” (best matches first).