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

bless

/blɛs/ verb, interjection, proper noun

Forms blesses blessing blest blessed

  1. verb To make something holy by religious rite, sanctify.
  2. verb To invoke divine favor upon. “In some countries, priests bless farm animals on St. Anthony's Day.”
  3. verb To honor as holy, glorify; to extol for excellence.
  4. verb To esteem or account happy; to felicitate.
  5. verb (Christianity) To make the sign of the cross upon, so as to sanctify.
  6. verb (obsolete) To wave; to brandish.
  7. verb (Perl programming, transitive, past tense only blessed) To turn (a reference) into an object.
  8. verb (archaic, with from) To secure, defend, or prevent from.
  9. interjection (UK, Canada, informal) Used as an expression of endearment, gratitude, or (ironically) belittlement.
  10. proper noun A surname from German.

Synonyms

sign consecrate hallow sanctify

Antonyms

curse condemn unbless

Etymology

From Middle English blessen, from Old English bletsian (“to consecrate (with blood)”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdisōn (“to sprinkle, mark or hallow with blood”), from Proto-Germanic *blōþą (“blood”), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom”). Cognate with Old Norse bleza (“to bless”) (whence Icelandic blessa), Old English blēdan (“to bleed”). More at bleed.

An ellipsis for an expression such as bless your heart.

Borrowed from Swiss German Bless.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Gen. ii. 3.
  2. verb To make happy, blithesome, or joyous; to confer prosperity or happiness upon; to grant divine favor to. The quality of mercy is . . . twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Shak.

Etymology [OE. blessien, bletsen, AS. bletsian, bledsian, bloedsian, fr. bl blood; prob. originally to consecrate by sprinkling with blood. See Blood.]

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

Sanskrit

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