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

were

/wə(ɹ)/ verb, noun

Also a form of be

Forms weres ware weare

  1. verb simple subjunctive of be “I wish that it were Sunday.”
  2. noun (fandom slang) The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.

Synonyms

wast wert

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English were, weren, from Old English wǣre, wǣron, wǣren, from Proto-West Germanic *wāʀun, *wāʀīn, from Proto-Germanic *wēzun, *wēzīn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. More at was.

Back-formation from werewolf and other terms in were-, from the same source as English wer, were (“man”) (above).

Inherited from Middle English were, wer, see wer.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To wear. See 3d Wear. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  2. noun A weir. See Weir. [Obs.] Chaucer. Sir P. Sidney.
  3. verb To guard; to protect. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  4. The imperfect indicative plural, and imperfect subjunctive singular and plural, of the verb be. See Be.

Etymology [AS. werian.]

Etymology [AS. wre (thou) wast, w (we, you, they) were, w imp. subj. See Was.]

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

Sanskrit

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

All 57 Sanskrit matches →