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 “ber”
- berg noun, proper nounAn iceberg.
- berk noun, proper noun(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory, vulgar) a fool, a prat, a twit, etc.
- berm noun, verbA narrow ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope.
- Bern proper nounA federal city of Switzerland; the capital city of Bern canton.
- Bercy proper nounA neighbourhood of Paris, Île-de-France, France.
- Berea proper nounA district of Lesotho.
- beret noun(clothing) A type of round, brimless cap with a soft top and a headband to secure it to the head; usually culturally associated with France.
- Beria proper nounA surname from Mingrelian; especially when referring to Lavrentiy Beria, NKVD chief under Stalin's administration and one of the main archi…
- berit nounthe Jewish rite of circumcision performed on a male child on the eighth day of his life
- Berne proper nounA surname
- beroe nounA small, oval, transparent jellyfish, of genus Beroe (phylum Ctenophora).
- berra verb, proper noun(informal, representing northern pronunciation) had better.
- berry noun, verb, proper nounA small succulent fruit, of any one of many varieties.
- berth noun, verb(by extension) A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor.
- beryl noun, adjective, proper noun(uncountable, mineralogy) A mineral of pegmatite deposits, often used as a gemstone (molecular formula Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈).
- berate verb(transitive) To chide or scold vehemently.
- Berber noun, proper noun, adjective(potentially offensive, occasionally proscribed) A member of a particular ethnic group indigenous to Western North Africa.
- bereft adjective(of a person) Pained by the loss of someone.
- bergen noun, proper noun(UK, military) A large rucksack.
- bering verb, proper noun(ambitransitive, dated) To encircle (something) with a ring or some other circular object (such as a shackle).
- berith nounthe Jewish rite of circumcision performed on a male child on the eighth day of his life
- berlin noun, proper nounA four-wheeled carriage with a separate sheltered seat behind the body.
- Berbers nounplural of Berber
- bereave verb(transitive) To deprive by or as if by violence; to rob; to strip.
- bergall nounTautogolabrus adspersus, a wrasse native to the western Atlantic, inhabiting inshore waters near the sea floor at depths of 10–128 metres (…
- Bergman proper nounA surname.
- Bergson proper nounA surname.
- berlage nounDutch architect and town planner (1856-1934)
- Berlioz proper nounA surname.
- Bermuda proper noun, nounAn archipelago and overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic Ocean, 580 nautical miles (1074 kilometers) east-southeas…
- bernard noun, proper nounShortened form of Saint Bernard (the dog).
- Bernice proper nounA female given name from Ancient Greek.
- Bernini proper nounA surname from Italian.
- berried adjectiveBearing berries.
- berserk noun, adjective, verb(historical) Synonym of berserker (“a Norse warrior who fought in a frenzy”).
- berating nounA scolding.
- berberis nounAny of very many evergreen or deciduous shrubs of the genus Berberis.
- berceuse noun(music) A composition that resembles a lullaby, often in 6/8 time.
- bereaved adjectiveHaving suffered the death of a loved one.
- bergamot nounA tree of the orange family (Citrus × limon, syn. Citrus bergamia), having a roundish or pear-shaped fruit, from the rind of which an essen…
- bergenia nounAny member of the genus Bergenia of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae.
- beriberi noun(pathology) An ailment caused by a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1), leading to lethargy and organ complications.
- Berkeley proper nounA habitational surname from Old English.
- berliner nounA native or inhabitant of Berlin.
- Bermudan noun, adjectiveA person from Bermuda or of Bermudian descent.
- Bermudas proper nounThe islands of Bermuda.
- berretta nounArchaic form of biretta.
- berteroa nounhoary alyssum
- berkelium noun(chemistry) A transuranic chemical element (symbol Bk) with an atomic number of 97.
- Berkshire proper noun, nounAn inland county of England, bounded by Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Greater London and Wiltshire.
- Bermudian adjective, nounOf, from, or pertaining to Bermuda, or the Bermudian people.
- Bernhardt proper nounA surname from German.
- Bernoulli proper nounA surname from Dutch [in turn from the Romance languages].
- Bernstein proper nounA surname from German or Yiddish.
- berrylike adjectiveResembling a berry.
- berserker noun(historical) A Norse warrior who purportedly fought in a trance-like frenzy; a berserk.
- bertillon nounFrench criminologist (1853-1914)
- beryllium noun(chemistry, uncountable) The chemical element (symbol Be) with an atomic number of 4; a soft silvery-white low density alkaline earth metal…
- berzelius nounSwedish chemist who discovered three new elements and determined the atomic weights of many others (1779-1848)
- Bering Sea proper nounThe sea between Siberia and Alaska, north of the Pacific Ocean, that is connected to the Arctic Ocean by the Bering Strait.