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

ha-ha

UK /ˈhɑːhɑː/ · US /ˈhɑˌhɑ/ interjection, noun, verb

Forms ha-has ha-ha's ha-haing ha-ha'ing ha-ha-ing ha-haed ha-ha'd ha-ha'ed ha-ha-ed ha ha haha har-har

  1. interjection An approximation of the sound of laughter.
  2. noun A laugh.
  3. noun Something funny; a joke.
  4. verb To laugh.
  5. noun (architecture) A ditch with one vertical side, acting as a sunken fence, designed to block the entry of animals into lawns and parks without breaking sightlines.

Synonyms

ha-ha fence sunk fence hee-haw horselaugh haw-haw

Etymology

From French haha, supposedly from ha! as an expression of surprise.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A sunk fence; a fence, wall, or ditch, not visible till one is close upon it. [Written also haw-haw.]

Etymology [See Haw-haw.]

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