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

babble

/ˈbæb.(ə)l/ verb, noun

Forms babbles babbling babbled

  1. verb (intransitive) To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds “The men were babbling, so we couldn't make sense of anything.”
  2. verb (intransitive) To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.
  3. verb (intransitive) To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle. “She babbled on for hours about the importance of some new gadget.”
  4. verb (intransitive) To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones. “Hounds are said to babble, or to be babbling, when they are too noisy after having found a good scent.”
  5. verb (transitive) To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.
  6. verb (transitive) To reveal; to give away (a secret).
  7. noun Idle talk; senseless prattle.
  8. noun Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
  9. noun A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.

Synonyms

gabble twaddle babbling lallation blather smatter blether blither ripple guggle burble bubble gurgle spill the beans let the cat out of the bag talk tattle blab peach sing babble out blab out

Etymology

From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), from Proto-West Germanic *bablōn, *wablōn, variants of *babalōn, from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-, perhaps a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say”), or a variant of Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”), or a merger of the two, possibly ultimately onomatopoeic/mimicry of infantile sounds (compare babe, baby).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), West Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), Dutch babbelen (“to babble, chat”), German Low German babbeln (“to babble”), German babbeln (“to babble”), Danish bable, bavle (“to babble”), Swedish babbla (“to babble”), Icelandic babla (“to babble”). Unrelated to Babel.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds; as a child babbles.
  2. verb To talk incoherently; to utter unmeaning words.
  3. verb To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat,as words, in a childish way without understanding.
  4. verb To disclose by too free talk, as a secret.

Etymology [Cf.LG. babbeln, D. babbelen, G. bappeln, bappern, F. babiller, It. babbolare; prob. orig., to keep saying ba, imitative of a child learning to talk.]

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

Sanskrit

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