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

slate

/sleɪt/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun

Forms slates slating slated sclate

  1. noun A piece of such stone, usually cut into a rectangular shape, used as a tile for flooring, roofing, etc.; (uncountable) such tiles collectively, or the material from which they are made.
  2. noun A piece of other material used as a roofing tile.
  3. noun A generally rectangular piece, originally of certain types of stone and now of other materials, often in a frame, used for writing on with a thin rod of the same or another stone (a slate pencil) or with chalk; a small chalkboard.
  4. noun (computing) Synonym of tablet computer (“a hand-held portable computer in the form of a tablet with a touch screen interface”).
  5. noun A sequentially numbered session of recording a film.
  6. noun Information about a film recording which is inserted at the start of the recording, or printed on a videotape label etc.
  7. noun A record, for example, of money owed. “Put it on my slate—I’ll pay you next week.”
  8. noun A range of things; also, a schedule.
  9. adjective Having the bluish-grey colour of slate (noun etymology 1, noun sense 4).
  10. verb To cover (a building, or part of a building such as a floor or roof) with slates (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.1). “The old church ledgers show that the roof was slated in 1775.”
  11. verb (chiefly US, figurative) To appoint or designate (someone or something); also, to nominate or propose (someone or something); specifically (politics), to nominate or propose (a candidate) for an office.
  12. verb (chiefly US, figurative) To expect (something) with a (strong) degree of certainty; to anticipate, to predict. “The next version of our software is slated to be the best release ever.”
  13. verb (chiefly US, figurative) To plan or schedule (something). “The election was slated for November 2nd.”
  14. verb (film) To provide synchronization information about (a scene, take, etc., of a film recording) using a slate (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.3.1).
  15. verb (leatherworking) To scrape (an animal hide) with a slater (“blade originally made of slate”) to remove hairs.
  16. verb To cover a building, or part of a building with slates (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.1).
  17. verb (film) To provide a film recording with synchronization information, especially using a slate (noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.3.1).
  18. verb To scold (someone) harshly; to chastise, to excoriate, to lambaste.
  19. verb (chiefly UK) To criticize or critique (an author or a work) harshly; to castigate. “The play was slated by the critics.”
  20. verb (military slang) To treat (an enemy) harshly.

Synonyms

tablet computer account bill tab slate blue slate gray slate grey admonish animadvert bash bawl out tilt cannonade slash lash blame scorch blast berate berisp slating ticket

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English sclate, slat, slate (“type of rock; roofing slate; writing slate”), from Old French esclate, a feminine form of esclat (“broken piece, shard”) (modern French éclat), from Old French esclater (“to break, shatter”), from Frankish *slaitijan (“to split, break”), from Proto-Germanic *slaitijaną, the causative of *slītaną (“to cut up, split”); further etymology unknown (see the Proto-Germanic entry for a discussion). Doublet of éclat and slat.
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

The verb is probably derived from slate (“flake or piece of certain types of stone that tend to cleave into thin layers; fine-grained homogeneous sedimentary rock which cleaves easily into thin layers”, noun) (etymology 1; possibly alluding to the sharpness of such rock). The noun is derived from the verb.

From Middle English slaiten, slat, slate (“to set (a dog) on an animal”), from Old Norse *sleita, possibly related to Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to tear apart”), further etymology unknown.

Possibly borrowed from Scots slait, slate (“dirty, slovenly, or objectionable person”), further etymology unknown.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun An argillaceous rock which readily splits into thin plates; argillite; argillaceous schist.
  2. noun Any rock or stone having a slaty structure.
  3. verb To cover with slate, or with a substance resembling slate; as, to slate a roof; to slate a globe.
  4. verb To register (as on a slate and subject to revision), for an appointment. [Polit. Cant]

Etymology [OE. slat, OF. esclat a shiver, splinter, F. éclat, fr. OF. esclater to shiver, to chip, F. éclater, fr. OHG. sliezen to tear, slit, split, fr. slizan to slit, G. schleissen. See Slit, v. t., and cf. Eclat.]

Etymology [Cf. AS. slæting a privilege of hunting.]

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