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

bespeak

/bɪˈspiːk/ verb, noun

Forms bespeaks bespeaking bespoke bespake bespoken

  1. verb (transitive, formal or archaic) To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.
  2. verb (transitive, dated) To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order, commission, reserve or arrange for something to be made in advance.
  3. verb (transitive) To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour. “to bespeak a calm hearing”
  4. verb (transitive, archaic) To forbode; foretell.
  5. verb (transitive, archaic, poetic) To speak to; address.
  6. verb (transitive) To betoken; show; indicate; depict; foretell; suggest; allude to. “This act bespeaks his kindness.”
  7. verb (intransitive) To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.
  8. noun (archaic) A request for a specific performance; a benefit performance, by a patron.

Synonyms

betalk chat talk about bechat confer discuss moot talk over treat betoken indicate point signal request call for quest

Etymology

From Middle English bespeken, bispeken, from Old English *bespecan, besprecan (“to speak about, speak against, accuse of, claim at law, complain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisprekan (“to discuss, blame”), from Proto-Germanic *bisprekaną (“to speak about, discuss, blame”), equivalent to be- + speak. Cognate with Scots bespeke (“to beseech, speak or negotiate with”), Saterland Frisian bispreke (“to discuss”), West Frisian besprekke (“to discuss”), Dutch bespreken (“to discuss, review, debate”), German besprechen (“to discuss, review, talk about”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor.
  2. verb To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate.
  3. verb To speak. [Obs.] Milton.
  4. noun A bespeaking. Among actors, a benefit (when a particular play is bespoken.) "The night of her bespeak." Dickens.

Etymology [OE. bispeken, AS. besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. be- + sprecan to speak. See Speak.]

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