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

telltale

/ˈtɛlteɪl/ noun, adjective

Forms telltales tell-tale tell tale

  1. noun One who divulges private information with intent to hurt others.
  2. noun An indicator, such as a warning light, that serves to warn of a hazard or problem.
  3. noun (figuratively) Something that serves to reveal something else. “The telltale was the lipstick on his shirt collar.”
  4. noun (music) A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected to the bellows of an organ, whose position indicates when the wind is exhausted.
  5. noun (nautical) A length of yarn or ribbon attached to a sail or shroud etc to indicate the direction of the flow of the air relative to the boat.
  6. noun (nautical) A mechanical attachment to the steering wheel, which, in the absence of a tiller, shows the position of the helm.
  7. noun (nautical) A compass in the cabin of a vessel, usually placed where the captain can see it at all hours, and thus inform himself of the vessel's course.
  8. noun (engineering) A machine or contrivance for indicating or recording something, particularly for keeping a check upon employees (factory hands, watchmen, drivers, etc.) by revealing to their employers what they have done or omitted.
  9. adjective Revealing something, especially something not intended to be known. “I noticed the snow was dirty, a telltale sign of recent human presence.”

Synonyms

blabbermouth gossip rumormonger squealer talebearer tattletale carrytale blab blabtale blabtongue busybody buzzer gossiper gossipmonger meddler mouth mumblenews newsmonger rumourmonger scandalmonger tattler taleteller revealing telling

Etymology

From tell + tale, perhaps dissimilated from earlier taleteller, from Middle English tale tellere (literally “tale teller”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Telling tales; babbling. "The telltale heart." Poe.
  2. noun One who officiously communicates information of the private concerns of others; one who tells that which prudence should suppress.
  3. noun A movable piece of ivory, lead, or other material, connected with the bellows of an organ, that gives notice, by its position, when the wind is exhausted.

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