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

listen

/ˈlɪsən/ verb, noun

Forms listens listening listened lisen lis'en lissen

  1. verb (intransitive except in archaic usage) To use one's sense of hearing and auditory cognition in an intentional way; to make deliberate use of one's ears; to pay attention to or wait for a specific sound. “Please listen carefully as I explain.”
  2. verb (intransitive) To accept advice or obey instruction; to agree or assent. “Listen, the only reason I yelled at you was because I was upset, OK?”
  3. noun An instance of listening. “Give the motor a listen and tell me if it sounds off.”

Synonyms

heed mind note pay attention attend be all ears behear earball give ear hark harken lend an ear list listen close play hear take heed

Antonyms

ignore disregard

Etymology

From Middle English listenen, listnen, alteration (due to Middle English listen (“to listen, give heed to”)) of Old English hlysnan (“to listen”), from Proto-Germanic *hlusnijaną, *hlusnōną (compare Middle High German lüsenen), from Proto-Germanic *hlusēną (compare Old High German hlosēn), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”).
Cognate with Swedish lyssna (“to listen”).
Compare Ancient Greek κλαίω (klaíō, “to make known, famous”), Welsh clywed (“to hear”), Latin clueō (“to be famous”), Lithuanian klausýti, Old Church Slavonic слушати (slušati, “to hear”), Sanskrit श्रोषति (śróṣati, “an exclamation used in making an offering with fire to the gods or departed spirits”) & Sanskrit श्लोक्य (ślókya, “voice, sound, noisy”)).
Related to loud and German lauschen.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To give close attention with the purpose of hearing; to give ear; to hearken; to attend.
  2. verb To give heed; to yield to advice; to follow admonition; to obey.
  3. verb To attend to. [Obs.] Shak.

Etymology [OE. listnen, listen, lustnen, lusten, AS. hlystan; akin to hlyst hearing, OS. hlust, Icel. hlusta to listen, hlust ear, AS. hlosnian to wait in suspense, OHG. hlosen to listen, Gr. loud. sq. root41. See Loud, and cf. List to listen.]

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

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “listen” (best matches first).

All 18 Sanskrit matches →