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

nonpareil

UK /nɒnpəˈɹeɪ(l)/ · US /ˌnɑnpəˈɹɛl/ adjective, noun

Forms nonpareils non-pareil nonparella nonpareillo

  1. adjective (frequently postpositive) Unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
  2. noun (countable) A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.
  3. noun The blue underwing or Clifden nonpareil (Catocala fraxini), a species of moth distributed across the Palearctic; also (obsolete) any of a number of moths of other species.
  4. noun (chiefly Australia, archaic) In full nonpareil parrot: an eastern rosella, of species Platycercus eximius, a rosella (parrot) native to southeastern Australia.
  5. noun (chiefly US) A painted bunting (Passerina ciris), a brightly-coloured finch native to North America.
  6. noun (archaic) In full nonpareil apple: an apple tasting both sweet and tart which ripens very late in the season; also, the tree producing this fruit.
  7. noun (archaic) Any of various types of small sweets.
  8. noun (by extension, dated) A small pellet of white or coloured sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy.
  9. noun (by extension) A small, flat chocolate drop covered with such pellets of sugar, similar to a comfit.

Synonyms

alone azygous incomparable matchless only peerless singular sui generis unequaled unique unparalleled unmatched unrivalled hundreds and thousands sprinkles nonpareille ideal paragon saint apotheosis nonesuch nonsuch one one and only unmatchable unrivaled

Antonyms

average basic bog-standard common common as bums common as dirt common as muck common as pig tracks dime a dozen everyday frequent general

Etymology

From Late Middle English non-parail (“unparalleled, nonpareil”) [and other forms], from Middle French nonpareille, nonpareil (“unparalleled”) (obsolete), from non- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + pareil (“alike, like, same”). Pareil is derived from Old French pareil, from Late Latin pāriculus (“equal; like; of a number: even”), from Latin pār (“equal; like; of a number: even; suitable”) + -culus (a variant of -ulus (suffix forming diminutives)).
Noun sense 4 (size of type standardized at 6-point) is usually taken to derive from the attractive type cut by the brothers Giovanni and Gregorio De Gregori (fl. 1482–1503 and 1496–1527 respectively) for their 1498 edition of the divine offices in Venice; it was for a long time the smallest-sized type in use.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Something of unequaled excellence; a peerless thing or person; a nonesuch; --often used as a name.
  2. noun A size of type next smaller than minion and next larger than agate (or ruby).
  3. adjective Having no equal; peerless.

Etymology [See Nonpareil, a.]

Etymology [F., from non not + pareil equal, fr. LL. pariculus, dim. of L. par equal. See Non, and Pair, Peer.]

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