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

“believed” is a form of

believe

UK /bɪˈliːv/ · US /bɪˈliv/ verb

Forms believes believing believed believest believedst believeth beleeve

  1. verb (transitive) To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing). “If you believe the numbers, you'll agree we need change.”
  2. verb (transitive) To accept that someone is telling the truth. “Why did I ever believe you?”
  3. verb To have been convinced by rational means to accept the truth of a proposition.
  4. verb To have been influenced by arational means (such as emotional experience, the imagination of need, etc.) to accept the truth of a proposition.
  5. verb (intransitive) To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth. “After that night in the church, I believed.”
  6. verb (transitive) To opine, think, reckon. “Do you think this is good? —Hmm, I believe it's okay.”
  7. verb To ascribe existence to. “Do you believe in God / the Easter Bunny / ghosts?”
  8. verb To believe that (something) is right or desirable. “I don't believe in sex before marriage.”

Synonyms

understand feel see buy swallow credit trust Adam and Eve hold think consider conceive

Antonyms

disbelieve doubt mistrust distrust suspect

Etymology

From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Old Frisian bilēva (“to permit”), Middle Dutch beloven (“to believe, entrust”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”).
A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), Saterland Frisian leeuwe (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German Low German glöven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”).
The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To exercise belief in; to credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of, upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by circumstances other than personal knowledge; to regard or accept as true; to place confidence in; to think; to consider; as, to believe a person, a statement, or a doctrine.
  2. verb To have a firm persuasion, esp. of the truths of religion; to have a persuasion approaching to certainty; to exercise belief or faith.
  3. verb To think; to suppose.

Etymology [OE. bileven (with pref. be- for AS. ge-), fr. AS. gel, gel; akin to D. gelooven, OHG. gilouban, G. glauben, OS. gil, Goth. galaubjan, and Goth. liubs dear. See Lief, a., Leave, n.]

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

Sanskrit

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