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

ladybird

UK /ˈleɪ.di.bəːd/ · US /ˈleɪ.di.bɝd/ noun

Forms ladybirds lady-bird

  1. noun (chiefly Commonwealth) Any of the Coccinellidae family of beetles, typically having a round shape and red or yellow spotted elytra.

Synonyms

ladybug lady beetle ladycow lady fly bishy barnabee ladybeetle ladybird beetle

Etymology

From lady + bird. Lady here refers to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Compare German Marienkäfer (literally “Mary beetle or bug”), Danish mariehøne, Latvian mārīte, Macedonian бубамара (bubamara) and Spanish mariquita. Also compare damselfly.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any one of numerous species of small beetles of the genus Coccinella and allied genera (family Coccinellidæ); --called also ladybug, ladyclock, lady cow, lady fly, and lady beetle. Coccinella seplempunctata in one of the common European species. See Coccinella.

Etymology [Equiv. to, bird of Our Lady.]

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