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

taper

UK /ˈteɪpə/ · US /ˈteɪpɚ/ noun, verb, adjective

Forms tapers tapering tapered

  1. noun A slender wax candle.
  2. noun (by extension) A small light.
  3. noun A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness and/or cross section in an elongated object. “the taper of a spire”
  4. noun The portion of an object with such a form. “ensuring the cleanliness of the taper of a machine tool spindle or of a tool shank”
  5. noun (chiefly historical) A long wick or thin stick used for transferring flames to candles, now usually chemically-treated to burn particularly slowly.
  6. noun A cone-shaped item for stretching the hole for an ear gauge (piercing).
  7. noun (figurative) Gradual reduction over time. “a drug taper”
  8. verb (transitive) To make thinner or narrower at one end.
  9. verb (intransitive) To become thinner or narrower at one end.
  10. verb (ambitransitive) To diminish gradually.
  11. verb (intransitive, finance, of a central bank) To tighten monetary policy.
  12. adjective Tapered; narrowing to a point.
  13. noun (weaving) One who operates a tape machine.
  14. noun Someone who works with tape or tapes.

Synonyms

spill match spunk narrow wick candle wax light sharpen point

Etymology

From Middle English taper, from Old English tapor (“taper, candle, wick of a lamp”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Latin papyrus (“papyrus", used in Mediaeval times to mean "wick of a candle”); If so, it is a doublet of papyrus; but compare Old French taper (“taper, slender candle or light”). Alternatively, of Celtic origin related to Irish tapar (“taper”), Welsh tampr (“a taper, torch”); further compare Sanskrit तपती (tápati, “(it) warms, gives out heat, is hot; (it) heats”). More at tepid. First attested before the 12th c.

From tape + -er.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A small wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light.
  2. noun A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness in an elongated object; as, the taper of a spire.
  3. adjective Regularly narrowed toward the point; becoming small toward one end; conical; pyramidical; as, taper fingers.
  4. verb To become gradually smaller toward one end; as, a sugar loaf tapers toward one end.

Etymology [AS. tapur, tapor, taper; cf. Ir. tapar, W. tampr.]

Etymology [Supposed to be from taper, n., in allusion to its form.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “taper” (best matches first).