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

cater

UK /ˈkeɪtə/ · US /ˈkeɪɾɚ/ verb, noun, adverb, proper noun

Forms caters catering catered catour cator kater chator catre quatre

  1. verb To provide, particularly:
  2. verb (ambitransitive) To provide with food, especially for a special occasion as a professional service. “I catered for her bat mitzvah.”
  3. verb (intransitive, figurative, with 'to') To provide anything required or desired, often (derogatory) to pander. “I always wanted someone to cater to my every whim.”
  4. verb (intransitive, figurative, with 'for') To tailor something to an intended audience. “The business caters for young professionals.”
  5. noun (obsolete) Synonym of acater: an officer who purchased cates (food supplies) for the steward of a large household or estate.
  6. noun (obsolete) Synonym of caterer: any provider of food.
  7. noun (figurative, obsolete) Synonym of purveyor: any provider of anything.
  8. verb (UK dialect) To place, set, move, or cut diagonally or rhomboidally.
  9. adverb (UK dialect, US) Diagonally.
  10. noun (rare, obsolete) Four.
  11. noun (card games, dice games, obsolete) The four of cards or dice.
  12. noun (music) A method of ringing nine bells in four pairs with a ninth tenor bell.
  13. proper noun A surname originating as an occupation.

Synonyms

acater caterer purveyor provide supply ply

Etymology

From Middle English catour (“acater, provisioner”), aphetic form of acatour (“acater”), from Old French acater (“to buy, to purchase”). Equivalent to cate + -er.

Probably ultimately from French quatre (“four”), possibly via cater (“change-ringing”), although Liberman argues for a derivation from a North Germanic prefix meaning "crooked, angled, clumsy" from which he also derives cater-cousin and, via Norse, Old Irish cittach (“left-handed, awkward”). He finds this more likely than extension of the dice and change-ringing term cater as an adverb, given the likely cognates in other Germanic languages. Caterpillar and caterwaul are unrelated, being derived from cognates to cat, but may have influenced the pronunciation of Liberman's proposed earlier *cate- or undergone similar sound changes.

From French quatre (“four”). Doublet of cuatro.

Occupational surname, from cater, obsolete form of caterer.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A provider; a purveyor; a caterer. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  2. verb To provide food; to buy, procure, or prepare provisions.
  3. verb By extension: To supply what is needed or desired, at theatrical or musical entertainments; --followed by for or to.
  4. noun The four of cards or dice.

Etymology [OE. catour purchaser, caterer, OF. acator, fr. acater, F. acheter, to buy, provide, fr. LL. accaptare; L. ad + captare to strive, to seize, intens, of capere to take, seize. Cf. Acater, Capacious.]

Etymology [From Cater, n.]

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