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

pew

UK /pjuː/ · US /pju/ noun, verb, interjection, proper noun

Forms pews pewing pewed P U P.U. peeyoo phew pyew

  1. noun One of the long benches in a church, seating several persons, usually fixed to the floor and facing the chancel. “In many churches some pews are reserved for either clerical or liturgical officials such as canons, or for prominent families.”
  2. noun (by extension, in the plural) The congregation of a church.
  3. noun An enclosed compartment in a church which provides seating for a group of people, often a prominent family.
  4. noun Any structure shaped like a church pew, such as a stall, formerly used by money lenders, etc.; a box in a theatre; or a pen or sheepfold.
  5. noun (colloquial, humorous) A chair; a seat. “Pull up a pew.”
  6. verb To furnish with pews.
  7. interjection An expression of disgust in response to an unpleasant odor.
  8. interjection (childish) Representative of the sound made by the firing of a gun, particularly a blaster in science fiction.
  9. proper noun A surname from Welsh.

Synonyms

church bench

Etymology

From Middle English pewe, from Old French puiee, puïe (“balustrade, balcony”), from Latin podia, plural of podium (“parapet, podium”), from Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “little foot”), from πούς (poús, “foot”). Doublet of podia.

See phew.

Onomatopoeic.

Less common spelling of Pugh, from Welsh ap + Huw.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun One of the compartments in a church which are separated by low partitions, and have long seats upon which several persons may sit; - -sometimes called slip. Pews were originally made square, but are now usually long and narrow.
  2. noun Any structure shaped like a church pew, as a stall, formerly used by money lenders, etc.; a box in theater; a pen; a sheepfold. [Obs.]
  3. verb To furnish with pews. [R.] Ash.

Etymology [OE. pewe, OF. puie parapet, balustrade, balcony, fr. L. podium an elevated place, a jutty, balcony, a parapet or balcony in the circus, where the emperor and other distinguished persons sat, Gr. Foot, and cf. Podium, Poy.]

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