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

ballot

/ˈbælət/ noun, verb

Forms ballots balloting balloted

  1. noun (originally) A small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a vote.
  2. noun The process of voting, especially in secret; a round of voting.
  3. noun The total of all the votes cast in an election.
  4. noun (chiefly US) A list of candidates running for office; a ticket.
  5. verb (intransitive) To vote or decide by ballot. “to ballot for a candidate”
  6. verb (intransitive) To draw lots.
  7. verb (transitive) To invite to vote on a proposal. “The trade union balloted its members for strike action.”

Synonyms

ballot paper voting slip vote voting balloting

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz (“ball”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Originally, a ball used for secret voting. Hence: Any printed or written ticket used in voting.
  2. noun The act of voting by balls or written or printed ballots or tickets; the system of voting secretly by balls or by tickets.
  3. verb To vote or decide by ballot; as, to ballot for a candidate.
  4. verb To vote for or in opposition to. None of the competitors arriving to a sufficient number of balls, they fell to ballot some others. Sir H. Wotton.

Etymology [F. ballotte, fr. It. ballotta. See Ball round body.]

Etymology [F. ballotter to toss, to ballot, or It. ballottare. See Ballot, n.]

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