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

twitter

UK /ˈtwɪtə/ · US /ˈtwɪ.təɹ/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms twitters twittering twittered

  1. noun (uncountable, countable) The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds. “I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park.”
  2. noun (uncountable, electronics) Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
  3. noun (countable) A tremulous broken sound.
  4. noun (countable) A slight trembling of the nerves.
  5. noun (countable, informal or UK, regional) Chiefly in the form in a twitter: a state of excitement or nervousness; a twit.
  6. verb (intransitive) To utter a succession of chirps.
  7. verb (intransitive, transitive) (of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.
  8. verb To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.
  9. verb To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
  10. verb (obsolete, transitive) To twit; to reproach or upbraid.
  11. noun (Northern England, Scotland, weaving, archaic) A knot or other defect in a thread or yarn which hinders spinning or weaving; a twit.
  12. proper noun (trademark) An online social networking and microblogging service; officially known as X since 2023.
  13. noun (Internet, informal) A user account on Twitter. “I've lost the password to my Twitter.”
  14. noun (Internet, informal) A feed on Twitter.
  15. noun (Internet, informal, usually in compounds) A community on Twitter.
  16. verb (ambitransitive, Internet, sometimes proscribed) To tweet; to post an update to Twitter.

Synonyms

tweet bird app birdsite -twt chirrup chitter

Etymology

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).

Origin unknown; possibly related to twine, twist, and twirl.

From twitter (“to utter a succession of chirps”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun One who twits, or reproaches; an upbraider.
  2. verb To make a succession of small, tremulous, intermitted noises.
  3. verb To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle. J. Fletcher.
  4. verb To utter with a twitter. Cowper.

Etymology [From Twit.]

Etymology [OE. twiteren; of imitative origin; cf. G. zwitschern, OHG. zwizzir, D. kwetteren, Sw. qwitra, Dan. quiddre. Cf. Titter.]

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

Sanskrit

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