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

sheathe

UK /ʃiːð/ · US /ʃið/ verb

Forms sheathes sheathing sheathed sheathest sheathedst sheatheth sheath

  1. verb (transitive) To put (something such as a knife or sword) into a sheath.
  2. verb (transitive) To encase (something) with a protective covering.
  3. verb (transitive) Of an animal: to draw back or retract (a body part) into the body, such as claws into a paw.
  4. verb (transitive, dated or literary, poetic, figuratively) To thrust (a sharp object like a sword, a claw, or a tusk) into something.
  5. verb (transitive, obsolete or rare, figuratively) To abandon or cease (animosity, etc.)
  6. verb (transitive, obsolete) To provide (a sword, etc.) with a sheath.
  7. verb (transitive, medicine, obsolete) To relieve the harsh or painful effect of (a drug, a poison, etc.).

Antonyms

unsheathe

Etymology

From Late Middle English shethen (“to put (a sword or knife) into a sheath, sheathe; to provide with a sheath; (figuratively) to have sexual intercourse”) [and other forms], then:
* probably from Old English *scēaþian; or
* possibly from Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Sheth(e) is derived from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To put into a sheath, case, or scabbard; to inclose or cover with, or as with, a sheath or case.
  2. verb To fit or furnish, as with a sheath. Shak.

Etymology [Written also sheath.]

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