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

Sappho

UK /ˈsæ.fəʊ/ · US /ˈsæ.foʊ/ proper noun

  1. proper noun A female given name in Ancient Greek, Σαπφώ (Sapphṓ), notably borne by ancient Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos (c. 612 BCE – c. 570 BCE.
  2. proper noun (astronomy) 80 Sappho, a main belt asteroid.
  3. proper noun (rare) A female given name from Ancient Greek.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Sapphō, borrowed from Ancient Greek Σαπφώ (Sapphṓ).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any one of several species of brilliant South American humming birds of the genus Sappho, having very bright-colored and deeply forked tails; --called also firetail.

Etymology [See Sapphic.]

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