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

John

UK /d͡ʒɒn/ · US /d͡ʒɑn/ proper noun, noun

Forms Johns Jon Joh.

  1. proper noun A male given name originating from the Bible [in turn from Hebrew]; very popular since the Middle Ages.
  2. proper noun (informal) Used generically for a man whose actual name may not be known. “a John Doe murder case; the dreaded Dear John letter; if we were to ask John Q. Public his opinion”
  3. proper noun (informal) Used frequently to form an idea personified, as in John Bull, John Barleycorn (see derivations below).
  4. proper noun (biblical) Persons of the Christian Bible: John the Baptist; and names possibly referring to one, two or three persons, frequently called "Saint": John the Apostle, John the Evangelist and John of Patmos (also called John the Divine or John the Theologian).
  5. proper noun (biblical) The Gospel of St John, a book of the New Testament of the Bible. Traditionally the fourth of the four gospels.
  6. proper noun (biblical) One of the books in the New Testament of the Bible, the epistles of John (1 John, 2 John and 3 John).
  7. proper noun A surname originating as a patronymic.
  8. noun (UK, military, slang) A new recruit at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
  9. noun (video games, Super Smash Bros.) An excuse, chiefly made by a losing player for their poor performance. “Remember, no Johns.”
  10. noun (slang, US) A prostitute's client.
  11. noun (slang, US) A device or place for urination and defecation: now usually a toilet or lavatory, but also (dated) a chamber pot or outhouse.
  12. noun (slang) A Western man traveling in East Asia.
  13. noun A male mule.

Synonyms

sir boy bro gov guv guvnor Mac man mate mister son buddy Joh. all-nighter curb crawler fare gonk jane jockey kerb crawler toilet lavatory lav can privy bathroom King John John Lackland Saint John St. John

Etymology

From Middle English John, Johan, Johannes, from Anglo-Norman Jehan, Johan, and also Old English Iohannes, both from Late Latin Iōhannēs, variant of Latin Iōannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), perhaps contracted from a former יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān, “God is gracious”).
Doublet of Jack, Jon, Johan, Johann, Johannes, Jean, Sean, Shane, Shaun, Ian, Ivan, Evan, Juan, Giovanni, and Yahya.

From the male given name John (q.v.), whose ubiquity led to extensive use of the name in generic contexts. Its use for toilets derives from John and Cousin John, which both probably relate to jacques and jakes, used in equivalent senses by the British and Irish.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A proper name of a man. John-apple, a sort of apple ripe about St. John's Day. Same as Apple-john.

Etymology [See Johannes.]

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