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

starling

UK /ˈstɑːlɪŋ/ · US /ˈstɑɹlɪŋ/ noun, proper noun

Forms starlings sterling

  1. noun A family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds.
  2. noun The common starling, Sturnus vulgaris, which has dark, iridescent plumage.
  3. noun A fish, rock trout (Hexagrammos spp.), of the North Pacific, especially, Hexagrammos decagrammus, found in US waters.
  4. noun (construction) An enclosure like a coffer-dam, formed of piles driven closely together before any structure or work, as a protection against the wash of waves, commonly used to protect the piers of a bridge.
  5. noun One of the piles used in forming such a breakwater.
  6. proper noun An English surname transferred from the nickname from a nickname for a gregarious person.
  7. proper noun A male given name transferred from the surname.

Synonyms

European starling stare boregat bodieron

Etymology

From Middle English starling, sterling, sterlinge, from Old English stærling, from stær (“starling”) + -ling (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch sterlinck (“starling”).

Apparently a variant of staddling (although difficult to account for), or perhaps an alteration by association with another (unidentified) word.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Any passerine bird belonging to Sturnus and allied genera. The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is dark brown or greenish black, with a metallic gloss, and spotted with yellowish white. It is a sociable bird, and builds about houses, old towers, etc. Called also stare, and starred. The pied starling of India is Sternopastor contra.
  2. noun A California fish; the rock trout.

Etymology [OE. sterlyng, a dim. of OE. stare, AS. stær; akin to AS. stearn, G. star, staar, OHG. stara, Icel. starri, stari, Sw. stare, Dan. stær, L. sturnus. Cf. Stare a starling.]

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