Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iː	see	ɪ	sit	e / ɛ	bed	æ	cat
ɑː	father	ɒ	hot (UK)	ɔː	law	ʊ	put
uː	too	ʌ	cup	ɜː	bird	ə	about
eɪ	day	aɪ	my	ɔɪ	boy	aʊ	now
əʊ / oʊ	go (UK / US)	ɪə	near	eə	hair	ʊə	tour

Consonants that look unusual

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

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

halberd

UK /ˈhælbəd/ · US /ˈhæl.bɚd/ noun

Forms halberds halbert halbard

noun A two-handed pole weapon, consisting of a long pole with an axe-like blade mounted on it (at a right angle like an axe, not on the tip like a spear), and (opposite the blade) typically a spike or hook.

Etymology

(1495) Middle French hallebarde, from Italian alabarda, from Middle High German helmbarte (“broad-axe with handle”), from halm, from Proto-Germanic *helmô (“handle”) + barte (“hatchet”), from *bardaz (“broadax”), literally "beard."

Webster’s 1913

noun An ancient long-handled weapon, of which the head had a point and several long, sharp edges, curved or straight, and sometimes additional points. The heads were sometimes of very elaborate form.

Etymology [F. hallebarde; of German origin; cf. MHG. helmbarte, G. hellebarte; prob. orig., an ax to split a helmet, fr. G. barte a broad ax (orig. from the same source as E. beard; cf. Icel. bar, a kind of ax, skegg beard, skeggia a kind of halberd) + helm helmet; but cf. also MNG. helm, halm, handle, and E. helve. See Beard, Helmet.]

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