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

muffle

/mʌfl̩/ noun, verb

Forms muffles muffling muffled

  1. noun Anything that mutes or deadens sound.
  2. noun A warm piece of clothing for the hands.
  3. noun (slang, archaic) A boxing glove.
  4. noun A kiln or furnace, often electric, with no direct flames (a muffle furnace)
  5. noun The bare end of the nose between the nostrils, especially in ruminants.
  6. noun A machine with two pulleys to hoist load by spinning wheels, polyspast, block and tackle.
  7. verb (transitive) To wrap (a person, face etc.) in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection; often with up.
  8. verb (transitive) To wrap up or cover (a source of noise) in order to deaden the sound. “to muffle the strings of a drum, or that part of an oar which rests in the rowlock”
  9. verb (transitive) To mute or deaden (a sound etc.).
  10. verb (intransitive, dated) To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
  11. verb (transitive, dated) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.

Synonyms

smother stifle strangle repress mute dull damp dampen tone down

Etymology

From Middle English muflen (“to muffle”), aphetic alteration of Anglo-Norman amoufler, from Old French enmoufler (“to wrap up, muffle”), from moufle (“mitten”), from Medieval Latin muffula (“a muff”), of Germanic origin (—first recorded in the Capitulary of Aachen in 817 C.E.), from Frankish *muffël (“a muff, wrap, envelope”) from *mauwa (“sleeve, wrap”) (from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“sleeve”)) + *vël (“skin, hide”) (from Proto-Germanic *fellą (“skin, film, fleece”). Alternate etymology traces the Medieval Latin word to Frankish *molfell (“soft garment made of hide”) from *mol (“softened, forworn”) (akin to Old High German molawēn (“to soften”), Middle High German molwic (“soft”), English mulch) + *fell (“hide, skin”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The bare end of the nose between the nostrils; --used esp. of ruminants.
  2. verb To wrap up in something that conceals or protects; to wrap, as the face and neck, in thick and disguishing folds; hence, to conceal or cover the face of; to envelop; to inclose; --often with up. South.
  3. verb To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.
  4. verb To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.

Etymology [Cf. F. moufle a mitten, LL. muffula, OD. moffel a muff. See Muff.]

Etymology [Cf. F. maffle, mumble, D. moffelen.]

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