Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

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)

-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.

darkness

UK /ˈdɑːk.nəs/ · US /ˈdɑɹk.nɪs/ noun

Forms darknesses darckness darkeness darknesse darkenesse

noun (uncountable) The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light. “The darkness of the room made it difficult to see.”
noun (uncountable) The state or quality of reflecting little light, of tending to a blackish or brownish color. “The darkness of her skin betrayed her Mediterranean heritage.”
noun (uncountable, countable) Any space that such colour pervades. “Out of the darkness came some flickers of light.”
noun (uncountable) Gloom; gloominess; depression.
noun (countable) The product of being dark.
noun (uncountable) Lack of understanding or compassion; spiritual or mental blindness.
noun (uncountable) Secrecy; concealment.
noun (uncountable) Lack of knowledge; obscurity or meaning or intelligibility; the unknown.

Synonyms

From Middle English derknesse, from Old English deorcnes; equivalent to dark + -ness.

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

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