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

Mesopotamia

/mɛ.sə.pəˈteɪ.mɪ.ə/ proper noun

  1. proper noun (history) A geographic region in southwest Asia, spanning from the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, located in modern Iraq, eastern Syria, and southeast Turkey; the site of one of the most ancient civilizations in the history of man.
  2. proper noun (history) A former province of the Roman Empire, existing from 116 to 117 AD and again from 198 to 637 AD.
  3. proper noun (history) The Mandate for Mesopotamia, a League of Nations mandate from 1920 to 1932, entrusted to the United Kingdom, that was the precursor to the independent state of Iraq.
  4. proper noun A geographic region in northeast Argentina, between the Paraná and Uruguay rivers.
  5. proper noun (UK, slang, obsolete) The Eaton Square district of London, England.

Etymology

From the Classical Latin Mesopotamia, from the Koine Greek Μεσοποταμία (Mesopotamía), a feminine substantive form of the adjective Μεσοποτάμιος (Mesopotámios, “between rivers”), from the Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos, “between”) + ποτᾰμός (potămós, “river”) + -ιος (-ios), so called because Mesopotamia is located between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The term is used as a translation of the Biblical Hebrew נַהֲרַיִם (naharáyim), the dual form of נָהָר (nahár, “river”).

Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “Mesopotamia”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details