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

belay

UK /ˈbiːleɪ/ · US /bɪˈleɪ/ verb, noun, proper noun

Also a form of belie

Forms belays belaying belayed belaid

  1. verb (ambitransitive, nautical) To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat.
  2. verb (transitive, climbing) To handle a climbing rope to prevent (a climber) from falling to the ground. “He would need an experienced partner to belay him on the difficult climbs.”
  3. verb (transitive) To lay aside; to stop; to cancel. “Belay that order!”
  4. verb (intransitive, nautical) The general command to stop or cease.
  5. verb (transitive, obsolete) To surround; to environ; to enclose.
  6. verb (transitive, obsolete) To overlay; to adorn.
  7. verb (transitive, obsolete) To besiege; invest; surround.
  8. verb (transitive, obsolete) To lie in wait for in order to attack; block up or obstruct.
  9. noun (climbing) The securing of a rope to a rock or other sturdy object.
  10. noun (climbing) The object to which a rope is secured.
  11. noun (climbing) A location at which a climber stops and builds an anchor with which to secure their partner.
  12. proper noun A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan (“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”), From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + lay. Cognate with Dutch beleggen (“to cover, overlay, belay”), German belegen (“to cover, occupy, belay”), Swedish belägga (“to pave”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To lay on or cover; to adorn. [Obs.]
  2. verb To make fast, as a rope, by taking several turns with it round a pin, cleat, or kevel. Totten.

Etymology [For senses 1 & 2, D. beleggen to cover, belay; akin to E. pref. be-, and lay to place: for sense 3, OE. beleggen, AS. belecgan. See pref. Be-, and Lay to place.]

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