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

Shakespeare

UK /ˈʃeɪkspɪə/ · US /ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/ proper noun, noun, verb

Forms Shakespeares Shakespearing Shakespeared Shakespere Shakspeare Shakspere

  1. proper noun A surname.
  2. proper noun William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
  3. proper noun (metonymic) William Shakespeare's works or media adaptations of his works. “He is reading Shakespeare.”
  4. proper noun A village in Perth East township, Ontario, Canada, named after the playwright.
  5. proper noun A ghost town in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States.
  6. noun (uncountable) Any form or style of language that is eloquent, especially in English; poetry.
  7. noun (countable) A playwright of the standing of William Shakespeare.
  8. verb (intransitive) To act or perform in a play of the works of Shakespeare.

Synonyms

the Bard Shakey William Shakespeare Shakspere William Shakspere Bard of Avon

Etymology

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Shakespeare”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details