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

platitude

UK /ˈplatɪˌtjuːd/ · US /ˈplætɪˌt(j)ud/ noun

Forms platitudes

  1. noun (countable) An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse.
  2. noun (countable) A claim that is trivially true, to the point of being uninteresting.
  3. noun (uncountable) Flatness; lack of change, activity, or deviation.
  4. noun (uncountable) Unoriginality; triteness.

Synonyms

cliché byword saying adage saw proverb maxim apothegm apophthegm dictum gnome gnomic saying mantra paroemia truism banality commonplace bromide

Etymology

Borrowed from French platitude, from plat (“flat”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The quality or state of being flat, thin, or insipid; flat commonness; triteness; staleness of ideas of language.
  2. noun A thought or remark which is flat, dull, trite, or weak; a truism; a commonplace.

Etymology [F., from plat flat. See Plate.]

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