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

tattle

UK /ˈtæt(ə)l/ · US /ˈtætl̩/ verb, noun

Forms tattles tattling tattled

  1. verb (intransitive) To chatter; to gossip.
  2. verb (intransitive, Canada, US, derogatory) Often said of children: to report incriminating information about another person, or a person's wrongdoing in an annoying fashion, usually to a person in a position of authority over the accused person; to tell on somebody.
  3. verb (intransitive, obsolete) To speak like a baby or young child; to babble, to prattle; to speak haltingly; to stutter.
  4. noun (countable) A tattletale.
  5. noun (countable, Canada, US, derogatory) Often said of children: a piece of incriminating information or an account of wrongdoing that is said about another person.
  6. noun (uncountable) Idle talk; gossip; (countable) an instance of such talk or gossip.

Synonyms

prattle rat out telltale tit informant gossiper chatter clatfart goss gossip gossipry labrish scuttlebutt skeet tale tidbit tittle-tattle twittle-twattle singing telling piffle palaver prate twaddle clack maunder blab gibber blabber gabble spill the beans

Etymology

From Middle Dutch tatelen, tateren (“to babble, chatter”) (modern Dutch tatelen, tateren (“to talk, chatter”)), originally imitative. The word is cognate with Saterland Frisian tätelje (“to talk nonsense, babble”), Middle Low German tāteren, tadderen (“to babble, chatter”) (whence modern German Low German tatern (“to chatter”)), Low German tateln, täteln (“to cackle, gabble”). Compare also Middle English dadel, dadull (“tattling, gossip”), and its alteration twaddle.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To prate; to talk idly; to use many words with little meaning; to chat.
  2. verb To tell tales; to communicate secrets; to be a talebearer; as, a tattling girl.
  3. noun Idle talk or chat; trifling talk; prate.

Etymology [Akin to OE. tateren, LG. tateln, D. tateren to stammer, and perhaps to E. titter.]

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