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 “yan”
- yana noun, proper noun(Buddhism) Any of the vehicles of Buddhist or Tantric practice.
- yang noun, verb, proper noun(philosophy) A principle in Chinese and related East Asian philosophies associated with bright, hot, masculine, etc. elements of the natura…
- yank noun, verbA sudden, vigorous pull (sometimes defined as mass times jerk, or rate of change of force).
- Yanan noun, proper noun, adjective(rare) Synonym of Yana (“(member of) a particular North American Indian people”).
- Yangon proper nounThe largest city and former capital of Myanmar; formerly, Rangoon (19th–21st c.), Dagon (16th–18th c.), and Dagoon (rare).
- yankee noun, verb(nautical) A headsail resembling a genoa or a jib but with a high-cut clew, normally used together with a staysail. A sailing boat is typic…
- yanker nounSomeone who yanks, or gives a sudden hard pull
- Yangtze proper nounThe chief river of central China and the third longest river in the world, flowing a total of 6300 km.
- yanquapin nounwater lily of eastern North America having pale yellow blossoms and edible globular nutlike seeds
- Yangtze Kiang proper nounAlternative form of Yangtze.
- yankee-doodle nounan American (especially to non-Americans)
- cyan noun, adjectiveAn additive secondary colour midway between green and blue, evoked by wavelengths between ~490 and ~520 nm.
- Aryan noun, adjective, proper noun(Nazism or white supremacy, informal) A person of Caucasian (white / Northern European) ethnicity; A white non-Jew, in the broadest sense, …
- Bryan proper nounA male given name from Irish, a less common alternative spelling of Brian.
- dayan noun, proper nounA rabbinic judge.
- Mayan adjective, noun, proper nounOf or relating to the Maya people of Central America and southeastern Mexico.
- banyan noun, proper nounAn Indian trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.
- Bunyan proper nounAn English surname; a nickname for someone with a hump or lump.
- Guyana proper nounA country in South America. Official name: Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Capital and largest city: Georgetown.
- Kenyan noun, adjectiveA person from Kenya or of Kenyan descent.
- Libyan adjective, noun, proper nounOf, from, or pertaining to Libya.
- Loyang proper nounAlternative form of Luoyang.
- minyan noun, adjective, proper noun(Judaism) The minimum number of ten (male) adult Jews required for a communal religious service.
- Poyang proper nounA lake in Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China, the country's largest freshwater lake.
- abeyant adjectiveBeing in a state of abeyance; suspended.
- biryani nounA spiced dish of rice, blended with meat and/or vegetables.
- Bisayan adjective, noun, proper nounAlternative form of Visayan.
- buoyant adjectiveHaving buoyancy; able to float.
- cyanide noun, verb(inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, countable) Any compound containing the -C≡N group or the CN⁻ anion.
- cyanite noun(nonstandard) Alternative form of kyanite.
- Deweyan adjective, nounOf or pertaining to Melvil Dewey (1851–1931), American librarian and educator, and inventor of the Dewey Decimal Classification.
- kyanite nounA blue neosilicate mineral, Al₂SiO₅, found in metamorphic rocks.
- Luoyang proper nounA prefecture-level city of Henan, China, near the Luo's confluence with the Yellow River; a former capital of China.
- Malayan noun, adjective, proper nounA person of whatever ethnicity from the former Malaya or Peninsular Malaysia
- Myanmar proper noun, adjectiveA country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Capital: Naypyidaw.
- Saroyan proper nounA surname from Armenian.
- sayanci nouna Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria
- Visayan adjective, noun, proper nounOf or relating to the Visayans or the Visayas.
- abeyance noun(law) Expectancy; a condition when an ownership of real property is undetermined; lapse in succession of ownership of estate, or title.
- buoyancy noun(physics) The upward force on a body immersed or partly immersed in a fluid.
- cyanamid nounArchaic form of cyanamide.
- cyanogen noun(organic chemistry) The pseudohalogen (CN)₂; a colorless, poisonous gas used as a rocket propellant, an insecticide and in chemical warfare.
- cyanosis noun(pathology) A blue discolouration of the skin due to the circulation of blood low in oxygen.
- Guyanese noun, adjectiveA person from Guyana or of Guyanese descent.
- Hinayana proper noun(Buddhism) Theravada Buddhism.
- Huxleyan adjectiveOf or pertaining to Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), British writer.
- Mahayana proper noun(Buddhism) One of the two primary branches of Buddhism that emerged around the 1st century BCE, which accepts non-Pali canon scriptures, an…
- Ramayana proper noun(Hinduism, Jainism, mythology) An ancient Sanskrit epic of Indian mythology about the legendary king Rāma.
- Shenyang proper nounA subprovincial city, the provincial capital of Liaoning, in northeastern China.
- Wesleyan adjective, noun, proper nounOf or pertaining to John Wesley (1703-1791), founder of Methodism.
- annoyance noun(countable) That which annoys.
- bryanthus nounprocumbent Old World mat-forming evergreen shrub with racemes of pinkish-white flowers
- buoyantly adverbIn a buoyant manner.
- chatoyant adjective, noun(jewelry) Having a certain optical reflectance effect, which can be likened to the sheen of a spool of silk.
- Chipewyan noun, proper nounA member of a Native American tribe of Central Canada, in the regions of Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan.
- cyanamide noun(organic chemistry) A chemical compound, NH₂CN; a white crystalline solid, soluble in water, having many commercial applications including …
- Himalayan adjective, nounOf or relating to the Himalayas.
- Kalapuyan adjective, noun, proper nounOf or relating to the Kalapuya people.
- polyandry nounA form of polygamy where a woman is married to two or more husbands simultaneously.
- pyocyanin noun(biochemistry) A greenish-blue pigment, produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, that is an antibiotic and antifungal agent