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

twinkle

/ˈtwɪŋ.kəl/ verb, noun

Forms twinkles twinkling twinkled

  1. verb (of a source of light) To shine with a flickering light; to glimmer. “We could see the lights of the village twinkling in the distance.”
  2. verb (chiefly of eyes) To be bright with delight. “His shrewd little eyes twinkled roguishly.”
  3. verb To bat, blink or wink the eyes.
  4. verb To flit to and fro.
  5. noun A sparkle or glimmer of light.
  6. noun A sparkle of delight in the eyes. “He was a rotund, jolly man with a twinkle in his eye.”
  7. noun A flitting movement.
  8. noun (colloquial) A brief moment; a twinkling.
  9. noun (childish) The female genitalia. “The popular Swedish cartoon song about genitals was translated as "Willie and Twinkle".”

Synonyms

flicker fulgurate glimmer scintillate shimmer wink sparkle nictitate flirt flutter glint glister spark twink flit flitter instant moment twinkling bat of an eye scintillation sparkling light flash blink winkle

Etymology

From Middle English twinclen, twynclen, from Old English twinclian (“to twinkle”), equivalent to twink (“to wink; blink; twinkle”) + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare German zwinkern (“to wink; twinkle”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink.
  2. verb To shine with an intermitted or a broken, quavering light; to flash at intervals; to sparkle; to scintillate.
  3. noun A closing or opening, or a quick motion, of the eye; a wink or sparkle of the eye. Suddenly, with twinkle of her eye, The damsel broke his misintended dart. Spenser.
  4. noun A brief flash or gleam, esp. when rapidly repeated.

Etymology [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]

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

Sanskrit

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