Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings
Vowels
| iː | see | ɪ | sit | e / ɛ | bed | æ | cat |
| ɑː | father | ɒ | hot (UK) | ɔː | law | ʊ | put |
| uː | too | ʌ | cup | ɜː | bird | ə | about |
| eɪ | day | aɪ | my | ɔɪ | boy | aʊ | now |
| əʊ / oʊ | go (UK / US) | ɪə | near | eə | hair | ʊə | tour |
Consonants that look unusual
| θ | thin | ð | this | ʃ | she | ʒ | measure |
| tʃ | church | dʒ | judge | ŋ | sing | j | yes |
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
Results for “William”
- Williams proper nounA surname.
- William Tell proper noun(attributive) The act of shooting an object off the top of a person's head.
- Williamstown proper nounAn unincorporated community in Decatur County and Rush County, Indiana.
- William and Mary proper noun(often attributive) A style of furniture design common from 1700 to 1725 in the Netherlands, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland and Ki…
- William McKinley noun(US, slang, rare) A United States five-hundred-dollar bill.
- Williams syndrome noun(medical genetics) A rare neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a distinctive elfin facial appearance, developmental delay coupled w…
- sweet william nounA flowering plant, Dianthus barbatus, in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to the mountains of southern Europe from the Pyrenees east to t…
- King William pine nounSynonym of King Billy pine.
- abbey noun, proper nounThe office or dominion of an abbot or abbess.
- Adventism nounThe Adventist Christian movement founded by William Miller in 19th-century United States.
- bard noun, verb, proper nounA professional poet and singer, like among the ancient Celts, whose occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of the heroic achiev…
- bardolatry noun(usually derogatory) Excessive or religious worship of William Shakespeare.
- Barstow proper nounA surname.
- beat generation proper nounA group of countercultural American writers who came to prominence in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their most important works are Jack K…
- billy noun, proper nounA fellow, companion, comrade, mate; partner, brother.
- Binghamton proper nounA city, the county seat of Broome County, New York, United States, named after William Bingham.
- Bryan proper nounA male given name from Irish, a less common alternative spelling of Brian.
- bull run noun, proper noun(bullfighting) An event in which people run with bulls in the streets.
- by preposition, adverb, adjective, proper nounNear or next to.
- Caledonian Canal proper nounA canal that connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast at Corpach near Fort William in Scotland.
- Cambria proper noun(historical) Wales, a constituent country of the United Kingdom.
- Caxton proper noun, nounA surname.
- cody proper nounA surname from Irish anglicized from Ó Cuidighthigh (“descendant of Cuidightheach (“helpful”)”).
- collins noun, proper nounAny of various alcoholic drinks made with lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water.
- conqueror noun, proper nounSomeone who conquers.
- constable noun, verb, proper nounOne holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
- Cooperstown proper nounA township and unincorporated community therein, in Brown County, Illinois.
- debater nounOne who debates or participates in a debate; one who argues.
- dollar diplomacy nounThe effort of the United States — particularly under President William Howard Taft — to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia thr…
- Domesday Book proper noun, noun(historical) The Book of Winchester; the principal record of the Domesday survey of England carried out in 1086 for William the Conqueror, …
- draper noun, proper nounOne who sells cloths; a dealer in cloths; a textile merchant.
- Duncan proper nounA male given name from Scottish Gaelic anglicized from Scottish Gaelic Donnchadh; the name of two early saints and of two kings of Scotland.
- Endicott proper nounA surname.
- fife noun, verb, numeral, proper nounA small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music
- fleet admiral noun(military, historical) The highest rank in the United States Navy, NATO grade OF-10, used only during World War II.
- Gainesville proper nounA town in Sumter County, Alabama.
- Georgian proper noun, noun, adjectiveThe language of Georgia, a country in Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
- Gladstone proper noun, nounA Scottish habitational surname from Old English.
- Glorious Revolution proper noun(historical, British history) The 1688 deposition of James II as King of England and Ireland and (as James VII) of Scotland and his subsequ…
- gubbins noun, proper noun(obsolete) Fragments; parings; scraps (especially of fish).
- gustatorial adjectiveOf or pertaining to gustation, the sense of taste.
- hamilton proper noun, nounA Scottish surname from Old English.
- hamlet noun, proper nounA small settlement or a group of houses, often defined as a settlement smaller than a village.
- Hankey proper nounA surname.
- hanks proper nounA surname originating as a patronymic.
- hare noun, verb, adjective, proper noun(countable) Any of several plant-eating mammals of the genus Lepus, similar to a rabbit, but larger and with longer ears.
- Hemingway proper noun, verbA surname.
- Hogarth proper noun, nounA surname.