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 “hell of a”
- article noun, verbA piece of nonfiction writing such as a story, report, opinion piece, or entry in a newspaper, magazine, journal, encyclopedia, etc.
- buckler noun, verb, proper nounOne who buckles something.
- capsid nounThe outer protein shell of a virus.
- clamshell noun, verbThe shell of a clam.
- cockleshell nounThe shell of a cockle (or similar shell).
- coconut meat nounThe white lining within the shell of a coconut; the endocarp of the coconut seed.
- cuticle nounThe strip of hardened skin at the base and sides of a fingernail or toenail.
- hinge noun, verb, proper nounA jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
- lemma noun, proper noun(mathematics) A proposition proved or accepted for immediate use in the proof of some other proposition.
- lorica noun(historical) A cuirass, originally of leather, afterward of plates of metal or horn sewed on linen or the like.
- mail noun, verb(now regional) A bag or wallet.
- paries noun, proper noun(anatomy, botany) The wall of any cavity or organ.
- putamen noun(botany) The shell of a nut; the stone of a drupe fruit; endocarp.
- rate noun, verb, adjective(obsolete) The worth of something; value.
- scute noun(zoology) A horny, chitinous, or bony external plate or scale, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodiles, or the feet and legs of…
- seashell noun, adjective, verbThe empty shell of a marine mollusk.
- septum noun(anatomy) Either of the two walls that separate the atria or ventricles of the heart into left and right chambers.
- valence electron noun(chemistry) Any of the electrons in the outermost shell of an atom (the valence shell); capable of forming bonds with other atoms.