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

illiterate

/ɪˈlɪtəɹət/ adjective, noun

Forms illiterates illitterate

  1. adjective Unable to read and write. “About half of the population in Ethiopia is illiterate.”
  2. adjective Having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature, or having little formal education.
  3. adjective Not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing.
  4. adjective Ignorant in a specified way or about a specified subject.
  5. noun An illiterate person, one either not able to read and write or not knowing how.
  6. noun A person ignorant about a given subject. (The relevant subject is usually named as a noun adjunct.) “Their government is run by business illiterates.”

Synonyms

analphabetic ignorant uncharactered unlettered analphabet illiterate person nonreader

Antonyms

literate

Etymology

First attested in 1425–1475, in Middle English; from Middle English illiterat(e) (“uneducated, ignorant of Latin”), borrowed from Latin illīterātus, illitterātus (“unlearned, ignorant”), itself from in- (“un-”) + līterātus, litterātus (“furnished with letters”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from lītera, littera (“letter, character”). The noun was derived from the adjective by substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Ignorant of letters or books; unlettered; uninstructed; uneducated; as, an illiterate man, or people.

Etymology [L. illiteratus: pref. il- not + literatus learned. See In- not, and Literal.]

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

Sanskrit

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