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

grope

UK /ɡɹəʊp/ · US /ɡɹoʊp/ verb, noun

Also a form of gripe

Forms gropes groping groped

  1. verb (obsolete) To feel with or use the hands; to handle.
  2. verb To search or attempt to find something in the dark, or, as a blind person, by feeling; to move about hesitatingly, as in darkness or obscurity; to feel one's way, as with the hands, when one can not see.
  3. verb To touch (another person) closely and (especially) sexually. “The parents found the couple kissing and groping.”
  4. verb To intentionally and inappropriately touch or rub against another person, in such a manner as to make the contact appear accidental, for the purpose of one's sexual gratification. “That old man groped that girl on the train!”
  5. verb (obsolete) To examine; to test; to sound.
  6. noun (informal) An act of groping, especially sexually. “The old man tried to get a quick grope of the young lady on the train.”
  7. noun (obsolete) An iron fitting of a medieval cart wheel.

Synonyms

touch fumble caress glaum root feel up touch up

Etymology

From Middle English gropien, from Old English grāpian, related to grīpan (whence English gripe); compare also grip.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To feel with or use the hands; to handle. [Obs.]
  2. verb To search or attempt to find something in the dark, or, as a blind person, by feeling; to move about hesitatingly, as in darkness or obscurity; to feel one's way, as with the hands, when one can not see. We grope for the wall like the blind. Is. lix. 10.
  3. verb To search out by feeling in the dark; as, we groped our way at midnight.
  4. verb To examine; to test; to sound. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Etymology [OE. gropen, gropien, grapien, AS. gr to touch, grope, fr. gr to gripe. See Gripe.]

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