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

zoom

/zuːm/ noun, verb, interjection

Forms zooms zooming zoomed

  1. noun A humming noise from something moving very fast. “the zoom of traffic”
  2. noun (figurative) A quick ascent.
  3. noun (figurative) A big increase.
  4. noun An augmentation of a view, by varying the focal length of a lens, or digitally. “What's the zoom like on your camera?”
  5. noun (slang, uncountable) A recreational drug comprising a mixture of PCP and cannabis.
  6. verb To move fast with a humming noise. “We zoomed along the highway.”
  7. verb (aviation) To zoom climb.
  8. verb To move rapidly.
  9. verb To go up sharply. “prices zoomed”
  10. verb (photography) To change the focal length of a zoom lens.
  11. verb To manipulate a display so as to magnify or shrink it. “to zoom in or zoom out”
  12. verb (transitive) To check someone out; to investigate someone that one is interested in.
  13. interjection Representing a humming sound
  14. interjection Suggesting something moving quickly
  15. interjection Suggesting a sudden change, especially an improvement or an increase
  16. verb To participate in a video teleconferencing call.
  17. noun A video teleconferencing call.
  18. verb (ambitransitive) To communicate with someone using the Zoom videoconferencing software.
  19. noun A videoconference using Zoom. “I have two Zooms tomorrow: one in the morning and another at noon.”
  20. noun (informal, genericization) A video teleconference service or website.

Synonyms

rapid climb rapid growth soar zoom along whizz whizz along soar up soar upwards surge

Etymology

Uncertain. The verb was first attested c. 1892, as a noun in 1918 and as an interjection in 1942. Apparently related to Scots soom (“to buzz, hum”), dialectal English and Scots soom, swoom, sweem (“to spin or twirl at high speed”). Compare also dialectal English sweem (“to swoon, become dizzy or faint”).

A genericization of the trademark Zoom, a video teleconferencing software.

From Zoom, a videoconferencing software by Zoom Video Communications; renamed as such (from Saasbee) in May 2012 by Jim Scheinman after the American children's book Zoom City (1998) by Thacher Hurd for ostensibly encapsulating creativity, happiness and exploration. Scheinman had "been saving the name Zoom for a long time."

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