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

tartan

UK /ˈtɑːt(ə)n/ · US /ˈtɑɹtn̩/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun

Forms tartans tartaning tartaned tartana tartane Turtan Turtanu

  1. noun (uncountable) Woven woollen fabric with a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles originally associated with Scottish Highlanders, now with different clans (though this only dates from the late 18th century) and some Scottish families and institutions having their own patterns; (countable) a particular type of such fabric.
  2. noun (countable) A pattern used on such fabric.
  3. noun (uncountable) Clothing made from this fabric.
  4. noun (countable) An individual who wears tartan (etymology 1, noun sense 1.2); specifically, a Scottish Highlander, or a Scottish person (chiefly a Scotsman) in general.
  5. noun (countable, fishing) A type of fly used in fly fishing, often to catch salmon.
  6. noun (countable, UK) A young person who is a member of a Protestant gang in Northern Ireland.
  7. noun (uncountable) Preceded by the: a group of people customarily wearing tartan; Scottish Highlanders or Scottish people collectively; also, the soldiers of a Scottish Highland regiment collectively.
  8. noun (uncountable, chiefly attributive) Originally a trade name in the form Tartan: a synthetic resin used for surfacing ramps, running tracks, etc.
  9. adjective Made of tartan (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1), or having a distinctive pattern of coloured stripes intersecting at right angles like a that of a tartan.
  10. adjective (figurative, sometimes humorous) Of or relating to Scotland, its culture, or people; Scottish.
  11. verb To clothe (someone) in tartan (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).
  12. verb To apply a tartan pattern to (something).
  13. verb (figurative) To make (something) Scottish, or more Scottish; to tartanize.
  14. noun (nautical) A type of one-masted vessel with a lateen sail and a foresail, used in the Mediterranean.
  15. proper noun (historical) The commander-in-chief of ancient Assyria.

Synonyms

plaid Scotch plaid

Etymology

The noun is an unadapted borrowing from Scots tartan, from Old Scots tartane, tertane, probably from Old French tertaine, tiretaine (“cloth of wool mixed with cotton or linen”), probably from tiret (“kind of precious cloth”) + -aine modelled after futaine (“woven cloth made from cotton mixed with linen or silk”). Tiret is derived from tire (“kind of silk cloth”), from Medieval Latin tyrium (“cloth dyed with Tyrian purple”), a noun use of Latin tyrium, an inflection of tyrius (“of Tyre, Tyrian”), from Latin Tyrus (“Phoenician city of Tyre (in modern Lebanon)”) (from Ancient Greek Τῠ́ρος (Tŭ́ros), from Phoenician 𐤑𐤓 (ṣr)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives).
Another suggestion is that the Scots noun is from Middle English tartaryn (“rich cloth (probably silk) imported from the East, probably from China through Tartary”), from Old French (drap) tartarin (literally “cloth of Tartary”), from Medieval Latin Tartarīnus (“of Tartary or the Tatars”), from Latin Tartarus, Tatarus (“Tatar person”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that tartarin referred to a more expensive fabric.
Noun etymology 1, noun sense 2.2 (“type of fly used in fly fishing”) may refer to its use in Scotland: see the 1837 quotation. Etymology 1, noun sense 2.3 (“young person who is a member of a Protestant gang in Northern Ireland”) is from the fact that they were traditionally supporters of Rangers Football Club based in Glasgow, Scotland.
The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun, while the verb is also derived from the noun.

Borrowed from French tartane, from Italian tartana; further origin uncertain, said to be from Arabic طَرِيدَة (ṭarīda, “type of fast ship”) but according to the Oxford English Dictionary there is insufficient evidence for this.

Borrowed from Hebrew תַּרְתָּן (tartān) (translated into English in versions of the Old Testament of the Bible: see the quotations), from the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian 𒌉𒋫𒉡 (tur-ta-nu).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Woolen cloth, checkered or crossbarred with narrow bands of various colors, much worn in the Highlands of Scotland; hence, any pattern of tartan; also, other material of a similar pattern.
  2. noun A small coasting vessel, used in the Mediterranean, having one mast carrying large leteen sail, and a bowsprit with staysail or jib.

Etymology [F. tiretane linsey-woolsey, akin to Sp. tiritaña a sort of thin silk; cf. Sp. tiritar to shiver or shake with cold.]

Etymology [F. tartane, or Sp., Pg., or It. tartana; all perhaps of Arabic origin.]

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