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

plebiscite

UK /ˈplɛbɪsaɪt/ · US /ˈplɛbəˌsaɪt/ noun

Forms plebiscites

  1. noun (law, politics) A direct popular vote on an issue of public importance, such as an amendment to the constitution, a change in the sovereignty of the nation, or some government policy.
  2. noun (by extension) An expression of the public's views on an issue, whether legally binding or not.
  3. noun (Ancient Rome, historical) Synonym of plebiscitum (“a law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate”).

Synonyms

referendum plebiscitum

Etymology

Sense 1 (“referendum”) is borrowed from French plébiscite, from Latin plēbiscītum, plēbis scītum, plēbī scītum (“law of the common people or plebs”), from plēbis (the genitive singular of plēbs (“common people, plebeians”)) + scītum (“decree, ordinance, statute”).
Sense 3 (“law enacted by the common people”) is a learned borrowing from Latin plēbiscītum: see above. It is attested earlier than English plebiscitum.
* Middle French plebiscite (modern French plébiscite)
* Middle Low German plebiscīt (“ordinance”)
* Spanish plebiscito, plebisçito (obsolete)

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791. [Written also plebiscit.]

Etymology [F. plébiscite, fr. L. plebiscitum.]

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