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

madonna

/məˈdɒnə/ noun, proper noun

Forms madonnas Madona

  1. noun A representation of the Virgin Mary.
  2. noun A morally pure woman.
  3. noun A lady.
  4. noun (skateboarding) A one-footed lien-to-tail trick, where the front foot is taken off and kicked out straight down behind the board.
  5. proper noun (Christianity, sometimes with definite article) Synonym of Mary, mother of Jesus, especially in Catholic contexts.
  6. proper noun A female given name from Italian.
  7. noun An artistic representation of the Virgin Mary, chiefly when holding the infant Jesus. “A beautiful example of this type of Madonna is the polyptych in the Museo Civico in Sansepolcro.”

Synonyms

Mary mother of Jesus Virgin Mary The Virgin Blessed Virgin Madonna Louise Ciccone

Etymology

Said to be named after the American singer Madonna.

From Italian madonna, from Old Italian ma (“my”) + donna (“lady”). The given name is derived from the English term, not used as a given name in Italy. Doublet of madam.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun My lady; --a term of address in Italian formerly used as the equivalent of Madame, but for which Signora is now substituted.
  2. noun [pl. Madonnas (naz).]

Etymology [It. madonna my lady. See Dame, Donna, and cf. Madame, Monkey.]

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