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

acerb

UK /əˈsɜːb/ · US /əˈsɜɹb/ adjective

Forms acerber acerbest

  1. adjective (archaic) Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, such as unripe fruit.
  2. adjective (archaic, figurative) Sharp and harsh in expressing oneself.

Synonyms

acerbic astringent acid acrid bitter blistering caustic sulfurous sulphurous virulent vitriolic

Etymology

From Latin acerbus, from Latin ācer (“sharp”): compare French acerbe. See acrid.

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, as unripe fruit; sharp and harsh.

Etymology [L. acerbus, fr. acer sharp: cf. F. acerbe. See Acrid.]

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