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

pole star

UK /ˈpəʊl stɑː/ · US /ˈpoʊl ˌstɑɹ/ noun, proper noun

Forms pole stars polestar pole-star

  1. noun (astronomy) The star visible to the naked eye which was in the past, is now, or will be in the future nearest a celestial pole of a planet. “Polaris is currently the pole star of planet Earth.”
  2. noun (figuratively) A person, principle, or thing which acts as a guide; a guiding light; also, something which attracts much attention; a centre of attention.
  3. proper noun (astronomy) Synonym of North Star, the current northern pole star, which has been Polaris for the last 1500 years.

Synonyms

polar star pole arctic cynosure guide star guiding star lodestar North Star Polaris polestar

Etymology

From pole (“either of the two points on the Earth’s surface around which it rotates; similar points on any other rotating object”) + star, possibly a calque of Latin stēllam polārem (“the Pole Star”).

Capitalized form of pole star.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “pole star”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details