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

berth

UK /bɜːθ/ · US /bɜɹθ/ noun, verb

Forms berths berthing berthed birth byrth

  1. noun (by extension) A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor.
  2. noun (by extension) A room in a vessel in which the officers or company mess (“eat together”) and reside; also, a room or other place in a vessel for storage.
  3. noun (by extension) A place on a vessel to sleep, especially a bed on the side of a cabin.
  4. noun (by extension) A job or position on a vessel.
  5. noun An assigned place for a person in (chiefly historical) a horse-drawn coach or other means of transportation, or (military) in a barracks.
  6. noun A bunk or other bed for sleeping on in a caravan, a train, etc.
  7. noun (road transport) A place for a vehicle on land to park.
  8. noun An appointment, job, or position, especially one regarded as comfortable or good.
  9. verb (nautical) To bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.1); also, to provide a berth for (a vessel).
  10. verb (specifically, astronautics) To use a device to bring (a spacecraft) into its berth or dock.
  11. verb (by extension, chiefly passive voice) To assign (someone) a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.3 or etymology 1, noun sense 2.2) or place to sleep on a vessel, a train, etc.
  12. verb (figurative) To provide (someone) with a berth (noun etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or appointment, job, or position.
  13. verb (reflexive, nautical) Of a vessel: to move into a berth.
  14. verb (by extension) Of a person: to occupy a berth.
  15. verb (archaic or historical) Chiefly in shipbuilding: to construct (a ship or part of it) using wooden boards or planks; to board, to plank.

Synonyms

position post office spot billet place situation mooring moorage slip bunk built in bed moor tie up wharf

Antonyms

unberth

Etymology

The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”). Further etymology uncertain, but probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns); if so, the English word is analysable as bear + -th (suffix forming nouns from verbs), and is a piecewise doublet of birth.
The verb is derived from the noun.

Possibly borrowed from Icelandic byrði (“side of a ship, board”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun (a) Convenient sea room.
  2. noun An allotted place; an appointment; situation or employment. "He has a good berth." Totten.
  3. verb To give an anchorage to, or a place to lie at; to place in a berth; as, she was berthed stem to stern with the Adelaide.
  4. verb To allot or furnish berths to, on shipboard; as, to berth a ship's company. Totten.

Etymology [From the root of bear to produce, like birth nativity. See Birth.]

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