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

plague

/plɛɡ/ noun, verb

Forms plagues plaguing plagued

  1. noun (often used with the, sometimes capitalized: the Plague) The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.
  2. noun (pathology) An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but especially that caused by the above disease.
  3. noun A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution. “Ten Biblical plagues over Egypt, ranging from locusts to the death of the crown prince, finally forced Pharaoh to let Moses's people go.”
  4. noun (figurative) A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates. “Bart is an utter plague; his pranks never cease.”
  5. noun (ornithology, collective) A group of common grackles (a blackbird), especially when flocking to e.g. parking lots at night.
  6. verb (transitive) To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly.
  7. verb (transitive) To afflict with a disease or other calamity. “Natural catastrophes plagued the colonists till they abandoned the pestilent marshland.”

Synonyms

pest pestilence murrain badger harry hound bait bedevil beleaguer persecute dog bullyrag besiege bug devil beset chevy give someone grief harass pester pestis infestation blight hassle chivy chivvy chevvy molest provoke

Etymology

From Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”), from plangō (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plāghe (> Dutch plaag), plāghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German plāge; Middle High German plāge, pflāge (> German Plage); plāgen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English wōl.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun That which smites, wounds, or troubles; a blow; a calamity; any afflictive evil or torment; a great trail or vexation. Shak.
  2. noun An acute malignant contagious fever, that often prevails in Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, and has at times visited the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality; hence, any pestilence; as, the great London plague. "A plague upon the people fell." Tennyson.
  3. verb To infest or afflict with disease, calamity, or natural evil of any kind.
  4. verb Fig.: To vex; to tease; to harass.

Etymology [L. plaga a blow, stroke, plague; akin to Gr. plangere to strike, beat. Cf. Plaint.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “plague” (best matches first).

All 9 Sanskrit matches →