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

rainmaker

UK /ˈɹeɪnmeɪkə/ · US /ˈɹeɪnˌmeɪkɚ/ noun

Forms rainmakers

  1. noun Someone or something that causes or attempts to cause rain to fall.
  2. noun A medicine man, shaman, or the like, who seeks to induce rain through performing rituals, as in African or Native American cultures.
  3. noun A person who seeks to induce rainfall through scientific methods, such as cloud seeding.
  4. noun (originally Canada, US, figuratively, informal) A person having the ability to generate business, raise funds, or otherwise engineer success for a company, organization, etc. “The law firm relied heavily on Charlotte as its main rainmaker to bring in new clients.”
  5. noun (baseball, informal) A batted ball that is hit very high into the air. “The slugger is known for hitting rainmakers.”

Synonyms

pluviculturist rain doctor

Etymology

From rain + maker.

Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “rainmaker”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details