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

patter

UK /ˈpæt.ə/ · US /ˈpæt.ɚ/ noun, verb

Forms patters pattering pattered

  1. noun A soft repeated sound, as of rain falling, or feet walking on a hard surface. “I could hear the patter of mice running about in the dark.”
  2. verb To make irregularly repeated sounds of low-to-moderate magnitude and lower-than-average pitch. “The bullets pattered into the log-cabin walls.”
  3. verb To spatter; to sprinkle.
  4. noun Glib and rapid speech, such as from an auctioneer, a stage magician, a sports commentator, or a salesperson with a slick style of selling. “sales patter”
  5. verb To speak glibly and rapidly, as does an auctioneer or a sports commentator.
  6. verb (intransitive, obsolete) To repeat the Lord's Prayer.
  7. verb (intransitive, obsolete) To pray.
  8. verb (transitive, obsolete) To repeat hurriedly; to mutter.
  9. noun One who pats.

Synonyms

spiel line of gab sprinkle spit spatter pitter-patter

Etymology

1610s, pat + -er (“frequentative (indicating repeated action)”), of (onomatopoeia) origin.

Noun is from Middle English pater, verb is from Middle English pateren.
Noun attested 1758, originally referring to the cant of thieves and beggars.

From pat + -er (“agent”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet.
  2. verb To mutter; to mumble; as, to patter with the lips. Tyndale. Etym: [In this sense, and in the following, perh. from paternoster.]
  3. verb To spatter; to sprinkle. [R.] "And patter the water about the boat." J. R. Drake.
  4. verb To mutter; as prayers.

Etymology [Freq. of pat to strike gently.]

Etymology [See Patter, v. i., 2.]

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