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

Benjamin

/ˈbɛnd͡ʒəmɪn/ proper noun, noun

Forms Benjamins

  1. proper noun (biblical) The youngest of the sons of Jacob and Rachel in the Bible.
  2. proper noun A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
  3. proper noun A small city, the county seat of Knox County, Texas, United States.
  4. proper noun A patrilineal surname transferred from the given name.
  5. noun (US slang, often in the plural) A $100 bill, which bears a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
  6. noun A balsamic resin from the bark of Styrax trees used in perfumes, incense, and medicine; benzoin resin.
  7. noun A type of tree which produces benzoin or has similar properties; specifically, Styrax benzoin, Lindera benzoin; a Benjamin bush.
  8. noun (UK, slang, dated) A kind of upper coat for men.

Synonyms

Ben Ben Franklin Benjamin Franklin Franklin benzoin gum benzoin gum benjamin asa dulcis

Etymology

From Late Latin Benjamin, from Ancient Greek Βενιαμίν (Beniamín), from Biblical Hebrew בִּנְיָמִין (binyamīn, literally “son of the right/south or son of days”). Authorities differ on the meaning of the original Hebrew. Philo of Alexandria, the Samaritan Pentateuch The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and Midrash Leḳaḥ-Ṭob understand יָמִין to mean "days" (a meaning attested in Daniel 12:13) understanding the name to mean "son of days (i.e. old age)" (compare to the direct translations into Arabic بِنْ يَومِين (bin yawmīn) "son of the days" and Arabic بِنْ يَمِين (bin yamīn) "son of the right hand"), a formula paraphrased in Genesis 40:22 where Benjamin is described as a child of Jacob's old age. Rashi in his commentary on Genesis also gives this as a possible meaning but favors an understanding of יָמִין to mean "right" in the sense of "the south", noting that Benjamin was the only son of Jacob born in the south. Jerome understood the name to mean "son of the right hand" and Gesenius speculated that this expression might have meant "son of good fortune".

From benzoin, modified by folk etymology to match the name Benjamin.

From the image of Benjamin Franklin on the US $100 bill.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun See Benzoin.
  2. noun A kind of upper coat for men. [Colloq. Eng.]

Etymology [Corrupted from benzoin.]

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