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

Jacob's ladder

noun

Forms Jacob's ladders Jacob's-ladder

  1. noun (biblical) A ladder leading to heaven.
  2. noun A flowering plant of the genus Polemonium.
  3. noun (nautical) A rope ladder from the ratline to the upper mast.
  4. noun A toy consisting of blocks of wood, held together by strings or ribbons, that appear to cascade downward as they flip over.
  5. noun A pocketknife consisting of two handle segments joined by a pivot, with a blade connected by a second pivot to the end of one handle segment.
  6. noun (mathematics) A noncompact surface resembling a ladder made of handlebodies.
  7. noun A high-voltage electrical device, often used as a visual effect in old movies, which has a pair of vertical electrodes that form an arc between them starting at the bottom, rising to the top, then repeating.
  8. noun (UK) A serving of short ribs.

Synonyms

angel's ladder Greek valerian charity Polemonium caeruleum Polemonium van-bruntiae Polymonium caeruleum van-bruntiae jack ladder pilot ladder

Etymology

After the Biblical Jacob's Ladder.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Jacob's ladder”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details