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

slake

/sleɪk/ verb, noun

Forms slakes slaking slaked

  1. verb (transitive) To satisfy (thirst, or other desires).
  2. verb (transitive) To cool (something) with water or another liquid.
  3. verb (intransitive) To become mixed with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place. “The lime slakes.”
  4. verb (transitive) To mix with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place. “to slake lime”
  5. verb (intransitive, obsolete) Of a person: to become less energetic, to slacken in one's efforts.
  6. verb (intransitive, obsolete) To slacken; to become relaxed or loose.
  7. verb (intransitive, obsolete) To become less intense; to weaken, decrease in force.
  8. verb (intransitive, obsolete) To go out; to become extinct.
  9. verb (transitive, Scotland) To besmear.
  10. noun (Scotland) A sloppy mess.
  11. noun A slack, a tidal wetland.

Synonyms

quench extinguish allay assuage abate slack

Etymology

From Middle English slaken (“to render slack, to slake”), from Old English sleacian, from Old English slæc (“slack”). Unrelated to, but possibly influenced by, the Old Norse sløkkva (“to extinguish”), compare Swedish släcka in the phrase släcka sin törst (“quench one's thirst”), släcka elden (“put out the fire”), and släckt kalk (“slaked lime”).

Probably connected with Icelandic sleikja, "to lick", and German schlecken (“to lick”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To allay; to quench; to extinguish; as, to slake thirst. "And slake the heavenly fire." Spenser.
  2. verb To mix with water, so that a true chemical combination shall take place; to slack; as, to slake lime.
  3. verb To go out; to become extinct. "His flame did slake." Sir T. Browne.
  4. verb To abate; to become less decided. [R.] Shak.

Etymology [OE. slaken to render slack, to slake, AS. sleacian, fr. sleac slack. See Slack, v. & a.]

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