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

pistol

/ˈpɪstəl/ noun, verb

Forms pistols pistoling pistolling pistoled pistolled

  1. noun (loosely) A handgun
  2. noun (precise) The type of handgun with the chamber integral with the barrel. “She leveled her pistol at the target.”
  3. noun The mechanical component of a fuse in a bomb or torpedo responsible for firing the detonator.
  4. noun A lively, high-energy person.
  5. noun (American football) An offensive formation in which the quarterback receives the snap at a distance behind the center, but closer than in a shotgun formation, with a running back lined up behind him.
  6. verb (transitive) To shoot (at) a target with a pistol.

Synonyms

handgun side arm shooting iron

Etymology

Probably from Middle French pistole, or via Middle English pistolet, from Middle French pistolet (“small firearm or small dagger”).
The origin is unclear.
If via German to Romance probably from Middle High German forms like pischulle from Czech píšťala (“firearm”, literally “tube, pipe”), from Proto-Slavic *piščalь, from *piskati, *piščati (“to squeak, whistle”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pīṣk-.
Alternatively, if from Romance to German, from or related to Italian pistolese (“short dagger”), from Italian Pistoia (“a Tuscan town noted for its gunsmithing”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The smallest firearm used, intended to be fired from one hand, --now of many patterns, and bearing a great variety of names. See Illust. of Revolver. Pistol carbine, a firearm with a removable but-piece, and thus capable of being used either as a pistol or a carbine.
  2. verb To shoot with a pistol. "To pistol a poacher." Sydney Smith.

Etymology [F. pistole, pistolet, It. pistola; prob. from a form Pistola, for Pistoja, a town in Italy where pistols were first made. Cf. Pistole.]

Etymology [Cf. F. pistoler.]

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