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

squeak

/skwiːk/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms squeaks squeaking squeaked

  1. noun (countable) A short, high-pitched sound, as of two objects rubbing together, or the sounds made by mice and other small animals.
  2. noun (uncountable, games) A card game similar to group solitaire.
  3. noun (countable, slang) A narrow squeak.
  4. verb (intransitive) To emit a short, high-pitched sound.
  5. verb (intransitive, slang) To inform, to squeal.
  6. verb (transitive) To speak or sound in a high-pitched manner.
  7. verb (intransitive, games) To empty the pile of 13 cards a player deals to oneself in the card game of the same name.
  8. verb (intransitive, informal) To win or progress by a narrow margin.
  9. proper noun (UK, military, World War I, slang) The British War Medal.

Synonyms

drop a dime grass up snitch close call close shave squeaker narrow escape whine screech creak screak skreak

Antonyms

romp

Etymology

An allusion to the newspaper cartoon strip Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To utter a sharp, shrill cry, usually of short duration; to cry with an acute tone, as an animal; or, to make a sharp, disagreeable noise, as a pipe or quill, a wagon wheel, a door; to creak.
  2. verb To break silence or secrecy for fear of pain or punishment; to speak; to confess. [Colloq.]
  3. noun A sharp, shrill, disagreeable sound suddenly utered, either of the human voice or of any animal or instrument, such as is made by carriage wheels when dry, by the soles of leather shoes, or by a pipe or reed.

Etymology [Probably of imitative origin; cf. Sw. sqväka to croak, Icel. skvakka to give a sound as of water shaken in a bottle.]

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