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

mulch

/mʌlt͡ʃ/ noun, verb

Forms mulches mulching mulched mulsh

  1. noun (agriculture, horticulture) Any material used to cover the top layer of soil to protect, insulate, or decorate it, or to discourage weeds or retain moisture. “An organic mulch is a mulch made of natural substances such as leaves or grass clippings.”
  2. verb (agriculture) To apply mulch. “Mulch your vegetable garden to retain moisture and keep weeds down.”
  3. verb (agriculture) To turn into mulch. “I decided to mulch the grass clippings.”

Etymology

Probably from Middle English melsche, molsh (“soft”), from Old English melsċ, milisċ (“mellow; mild; sweet”, literally “honeyed”), probably from Proto-Germanic *mili (“honey”). Compare Icelandic milska (“a honeyed beverage”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Half-rotten straw, or any like substance strewn on the ground, as over the roots of plants, to protect from heat, drought, etc., and to preserve moisture.
  2. verb To cover or dress with mulch.

Etymology [Cf. mull dirt, also Prov. G. mulsch, molsch, rotten, soft, mellow, as fruit.]

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