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

stilt

/stɪlt/ noun, verb

Forms stilts stilting stilted

  1. noun Either of two poles with footrests that allow someone to stand or walk above the ground; used mostly by entertainers.
  2. noun A tall pillar or post used to support some structure; often above water.
  3. noun Any of various wading birds of the genera Himantopus and Cladorhynchus, related to the avocet, that have extremely long legs and long thin bills.
  4. noun A crutch.
  5. noun The handle of a plough.
  6. verb to raise on stilts, or as if on stilts
  7. verb to apply unnecessary pomp or formality

Synonyms

pile spile piling Australian stilt stiltbird longlegs long-legs stilt plover Himantopus stilt

Etymology

From Middle English stilte, stulte, from Old English *stilte, *stylte, from Proto-Germanic *stiltijǭ, *staltijǭ, *stultijǭ (“stilt”), from Proto-Germanic *stelt- (“to be stiff”). Akin to Danish stylte, Dutch stelt, German Stelze.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A pole, or piece of wood, constructed with a step or loop to raise the foot above the ground in walking. It is sometimes lashed to the leg, and sometimes prolonged upward so as to be steadied by the hand or arm. Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked. Landor.
  2. noun A crutch; also, the handle of a plow. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
  3. verb To raise on stilts, or as if on stilts.

Etymology [OE. stilte; akin to Dan. stylte, Sw. stylta, LG. & D. stelt, OHG. stelza, G. stelze, and perh. to E. stout.]

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