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

a

UK /ʌ/ · US /ə/ numeral, noun, article, preposition, verb, pronoun, adverb, adjective, contraction, interjection

Forms as a's aes 'a 'a' ha ha' o' o a' uh

  1. numeral The first numeral symbol of the English alphabet, called ay and written in the Latin script.
  2. noun The name of the Latin script letter A/a.
  3. article An unspecified example of (something); the indefinite article. “There was a man here looking for you yesterday.”
  4. article One; used before score, dozen, hundred, thousand, million, etc. “I've seen it happen a hundred times.”
  5. article Used in some phrases denoting quantity, such as a few, a good many, a couple, a little, a bit, etc. “He's a bit thick, isn't he?”
  6. article Used before a numeral. “There are a few hundred orders that need to be fulfilled by tomorrow.”
  7. article Used in some adverbial phrases denoting the degree or extent of an action, such as a little, a bit, a lot, etc. “The door was opened a little.”
  8. article The same; one and the same. Used in phrases such as of a kind, birds of a feather, etc. “We are of a mind on matters of morals.”
  9. article Any; every; used before a noun which has become modified to limit its scope. “A man who dies intestate leaves his children troubles and difficulties.”
  10. article Any; used with a negative to indicate not a single one. “It was so dark that we couldn't see a thing.”
  11. preposition To do with separation; In, into. “torn a pieces”
  12. preposition To do with time; Each, per, in, on, by. Often occurs between two nouns, where the first noun occurs at the end of a verbal phrase. “I brush my teeth twice a day.”
  13. preposition To do with status; In.
  14. preposition (archaic) To do with position or direction; In, on, at, by, towards, onto. “stand a tiptoe”
  15. preposition (archaic) To do with process, with a passive verb; In the course of, experiencing.
  16. preposition (archaic) To do with an action, an active verb; Engaged in.
  17. preposition (archaic) To do with an action/movement; To, into.
  18. preposition (obsolete) To do with method; In, with.
  19. verb (dialectal or slang) Have (auxiliary verb). “I'd a come, if you'd a asked.”
  20. verb (dialectal or slang, rare) Had (auxiliary verb).

Synonyms

an one angstrom angstrom unit vitamin A antiophthalmic factor axerophthol deoxyadenosine monophosphate adenine ampere amp type A group A

Antonyms

every the

Etymology

The letter name is from Middle English ā, from Old French, ultimately from Latin ā. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced the futhorc letter ᚪ (a) beginning in the 7th century, and partially also ᚫ (æ).

From Middle English a, an, from Old English ān (“one; a; lone; sole”). More at one. The "n" was gradually lost before consonants in almost all dialects by the 15th century. Cognate with Alemannic German a (“a, an”), East Franconian a (“a, an”).

* From Middle English a, o, from Old English a-, an, on.
* Unstressed form of on.

From Middle English a, ha contraction of have, or haven.

Webster’s 1913

  1. The first letter of the English and of many other alphabets.
  2. The name of the sixth tone in the model major scale (that in C), or the first tone of the minor scale, which is named after it the scale in A minor. The second string of the violin is tuned to the A in the treble staff.
  3. preposition In; on; at; by. [Obs.] "A God's name." "Torn a pieces." "Stand a tiptoe." "A Sundays" Shak. "Wit that men have now a days." Chaucer.
  4. preposition In process of; in the act of; into; to; --used with verbal substantives in -ing which begin with a consonant. This is a shortened form of the preposition an (which was used before the vowel sound); as in a hunting, a building, a begging. "Jacob, when he was a dying" Heb. xi. 21. "We'll a birding together." " It was a doing." Shak. "He burst out a laughing." Macaulay. The hyphen may be used to connect a with the verbal substantive (as, a-hunting, a-building) or the words may be written separately. This form of expression is now for the most part obsolete, the a being omitted and the verbal subs

Etymology [Shortened form of an. AS. an one. See One.]

Etymology [Abbreviated form of an (AS. on). See On.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “a”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details