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

rheostat

UK /ˈɹiː.ə.stat/ · US /ˈɹi.əˌstæt/ noun

Forms rheostats reostat

  1. noun (electronics, technology) An electrical resistor with two terminals, the resistance of which can be varied continuously by moving a knob or slider to regulate the flow of an electric current.
  2. noun Such a device used to regulate the brightness of an electric light; a dimmer.
  3. noun (figurative) A notional device which causes some quality to vary.

Synonyms

dimmer switch variable resistor

Etymology

From rheo- (prefix meaning ‘current; flow’) + -stat (suffix forming the names of scientific instruments which render the prefixed elements static or stationary in some respect), coined by the English physicist and inventor Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875) in an 1843 journal article: see the quotation.
* Rheo- is derived from Ancient Greek ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow, stream”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow, stream”), possibly from *ser- (“to flow”).
* -Stat is derived from Ancient Greek -στάτης (-státēs), from ῐ̔́στημῐ (hĭ́stēmĭ, “to stand; to stop”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A contrivance for adjusting or regulating the strength of electrical currents, operating usually by the intercalation of resistance which can be varied at will. Wheatstone. --Rhe`o*stat"ic, a.

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