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

tortoiseshell

/ˈtɔː(ɹ)təˌʃɛl/ noun, adjective

Forms tortoiseshells

  1. noun The horny, translucent, mottled covering of the carapace of the hawksbill turtle, used as a veneer etc.
  2. noun The hawksbill turtle.
  3. noun A domestic cat (or a rabbit, guinea-pig, etc.) whose fur has black, brown and yellow markings.
  4. noun Any of several butterflies, mostly of the genera Nymphalis and Aglais that have similar markings.
  5. adjective Made of the covering of carapace of hawksbill turtle.
  6. adjective Having markings resembling covering of carapace of hawksbill turtle.

Synonyms

tort tortie tortoiseshell butterfly tortoiseshell-cat calico cat

Etymology

From tortoise + shell.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “tortoiseshell”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details