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

tympanum

/ˈtɪm.pən.əm/ noun

Forms tympanums tympana

  1. noun (archaic) A drum.
  2. noun (anatomy, zootomy) The eardrum (tympanic membrane, membrana tympanica).
  3. noun (anatomy, zootomy) The main portion of the middle ear: the tympanic cavity (cavitas tympani).
  4. noun (zootomy, entomology) A thin tense membrane covering the hearing organ on the leg or body of some insects, sometimes adapted (as in cicadas) for producing sound.
  5. noun (zootomy) A membranous resonator in a sound-producing organ in frogs and toads.
  6. noun (zootomy) (in certain birds) The labyrinth at the bottom of the windpipe.
  7. noun (architecture) A vertical recessed triangular space between the sides of a pediment, typically decorated.
  8. noun The recessed triangular space within an arch, and above a lintel or a subordinate arch, spanning the opening below the arch.

Synonyms

middle ear tympanic cavity eardrum tympanic membrane myringa kettle kettledrum tympani timpani

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tympanum (“a drum, timbrel, tambourine; the eardrum”). Doublet of timbre, timpani, timbal, and tymbal.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun (a) The ear drum, or middle ear. Sometimes applied incorrectly to the tympanic membrane. See Ear.
  2. noun One of the naked, inflatable air sacs on the neck of the prairie chicken and other species of grouse.

Etymology [L., a kettledrum, a drum or wheel in machines, the triangular area in a pediment, the panel of a door, Gr. Type, and cf. Timbrel.]

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