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

snapdragon

/ˈsnæpdɹæɡən/ noun

Forms snapdragons snap dragon snap-dragon

  1. noun (countable) Any plant of the genus Antirrhinum, with showy yellow, white or red flowers.
  2. noun (uncountable) A game in which raisins are snatched from a vessel containing burning brandy, and eaten; the substance snatched and eaten during the playing of the game; the vessel used for the game.

Synonyms

dragon flower flapdragon

Etymology

(1570s) From snap + dragon, from a fancied resemblance, especially by playing children that the flower is a dragon that opens its "mouth" when squeezed on the sides. Compare for this sense the etymology of Dutch leeuwenbek (“snapdragon”, literally “lion's mouth”) and German Löwenmaul. An ancient name was Old English hundeshéafod (literally “dog's head”). For the parlour game sense, the 1704 Swift quotation is apparently the earliest appearance in print.
Other animal-based names for the flower are common; compare Greek σκυλάκι (skyláki, literally “puppy”) and Finnish leijonankita (literally “lion's mouth”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun (a) Any plant of the scrrophulariaceous genus Antirrhinum, especially the cultivated A. majus, whose showy flowers are fancifully likened to the face of a dragon.
  2. noun A play in which raisins are snatched from a vessel containing burning brandy, and eaten; also, that which is so eaten. See Flapdragon. Swift.

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