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

ballast

/ˈbæl.əst/ noun, verb

Forms ballasts ballasting ballasted

  1. noun (nautical) Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability.
  2. noun (figurative) Anything that steadies emotion or the mind.
  3. noun Coarse gravel or similar material laid to form a bed for roads or railroads, or in making concrete; track ballast.
  4. noun (construction) A material, such as aggregate or precast concrete pavers, which employs its mass and the force of gravity to hold single-ply roof membranes in place.
  5. noun (railways) Loose stone or big gravel used to hold rails and tracks in place.
  6. noun (countable, electricity, electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)
  7. noun (figurative) That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
  8. verb (transitive) To stabilize or load a ship with ballast.
  9. verb (transitive) To lay ballast on the bed of a railroad track.
  10. verb (transitive) To weigh down with a ballast.

Synonyms

ballast resistor barretter light ballast

Etymology

From Middle English bar (“bare”) + last (“load”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any heavy substance, as stone, iron, etc., put into the hold to sink a vessel in the water to such a depth as to prevent capsizing.
  2. noun Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness.
  3. verb To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold.
  4. verb To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid.

Etymology [D. ballast; akin to Dan. baglast, ballast, OSw. barlast, Sw. ballast. The first part is perh. the same word as E. bare, adj.; the second is last a burden, and hence the meaning a bare, or mere, load. See Bare, a., and Last load.]

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