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 “head for”
- head for the hills verbTo travel to a higher elevation, especially to a rural region on vacation.
- crescendo noun, verb, adverb(music) An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called …
- dolly noun, verb, adjective, proper noun(childish, colloquial) A doll.
- echeneididae nounfishes having a sucking disk on the head for clinging to other fishes and to ships
- headed adjectiveOf a sheet of paper: having the sender's name, address, etc. preprinted at the top.
- headlong adverb, adjective, verbWith the head first or down.
- nail noun, verb, proper nounThe horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and h…
- ply noun, verbA layer of material.
- socket noun, verb(electricity) An opening into which a plug or other connecting part is designed to fit (e.g. a light bulb socket).
- testing adjective, nounDifficult; tough.
- work out verb(transitive) To calculate.