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

tao

/daʊ/ noun, proper noun

Forms taos dao

  1. noun (by extension) The art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing. “the tao of sex... the tao of the heart... the tao of integuments...”
  2. noun (historical, obsolete) Synonym of circuit: various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China.
  3. proper noun (Chinese philosophy) In Taoism, The Way, specifically the transcendental basis of nature and, and/or the ideal way to live one's life.
  4. proper noun A unisex given name from Mandarin.
  5. proper noun A surname from Mandarin.
  6. proper noun an Austronesian ethnic group native to Orchid Island (Lanyu) of Lanyu, Taitung County, Taiwan
  7. proper noun (historical) a historical region of Georgia (country)

Synonyms

zen circuit Yami Taoist

Etymology

From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 道 (tao⁴).

From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 道 (Dào, literally “The Way”): Tao⁴.

Borrowed from Mandarin 陶 (Táo).

Borrowed from Yami Tao (“the Tao/Yami language”), from Yami tao (“human; person”), from Proto-Philippine *tau, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau, from Proto-Austronesian *Cau. Compare Ibatan tawo, Tagalog tao, Ilocano tao.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “tao”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details