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

rabbit hole

noun

Forms rabbit holes rabbit-hole rabbithole

  1. noun (figurative, usually with an article) A bizarre world, where everyday rules do not apply.
  2. noun (figurative, usually with an article) A way into such a world. “These mushrooms will take you down the rabbit hole, man.”
  3. noun (figuratively, by extension) A time-consuming tangent or detour, often one from which it is difficult to extricate oneself. “I'm also a fan of a really obscure book series, but that's a rabbit hole that we won't get into.”
  4. noun (figurative, gaming) The initial clue that leads to an alternate reality game.
  5. noun Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rabbit, hole. The entrance to a rabbit warren or burrow; the whole warren or burrow.

Synonyms

looking-glass wild-goose chase rabbit trail[regiolect]]ic> trailhead rabbit burrow

Etymology

From rabbit + hole. Extended senses reference Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice travels down a rabbit hole into a bizarre world.

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