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

towel

/ˈtaʊ̯əl/ noun, verb

Forms towels toweling towelling toweled towelled

  1. noun A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath. “He needed a towel for wiping the slippery floor.”
  2. verb (transitive) To dry by using a towel. “He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.”
  3. verb (transitive) To hit with a towel.
  4. verb (transitive) To block up (a door, etc.) with a towel, to conceal the fumes of a recreational drug.
  5. verb (UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".

Etymology

From Middle English towayle, towel, towail, towaille, from Old French toaille (“towel”) (modern French touaille), Medieval Latin toallia, from Frankish *þwahilu (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahaną (“to wash”). Cognate with Old High German dwahila (“towel”) (modern dialectal German Zwehle), Dutch dwaal (“towel”), dweil (“mop”), Low German Dweel (“towel”), Old English þwǣle (“band; ribbon; fillet”), Old English þwēan (“to wash”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, as the person after a bath. Towel gourd (Bot.), the fruit of the cucurbitaceous plant Luffa Ægyptiaca; also, the plant itself. The fruit is very fibrous, and, when separated from its rind and seeds, is used as a sponge or towel. Called also Egyptian bath sponge, and dishcloth.
  2. verb To beat with a stick. [Prov. Eng.]

Etymology [OE.towaille, towail, F. touaille, LL. toacula, of Teutonic origin; cf. OHG. dwahila, swahilla, G. zwehle, fr. OHG. dwahan to wash; akin to D. dwaal a towel, AS. þweán to wash, OS. thwahan, Icel. þva, Sw. två, Dan. toe, Goth. þwahan. Cf. Doily.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “towel” (best matches first).