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

desolation

/ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən/ noun

Forms desolations

  1. noun The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
  2. noun The state of being desolated or laid waste
  3. noun A place or country wasted and forsaken.

Synonyms

ruin solitariness destitution gloom gloominess devastation bleakness bareness nakedness forlornness loneliness

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English desolacioun, from Middle French, Old French desolacion f, from Latin dēsōlātiō f.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
  2. noun The state of being desolated or laid waste; ruin; solitariness; destitution; gloominess.

Etymology [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]

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