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

“wails” is a form of

wail

/weɪl/ verb, noun, proper noun

Also a form of wale

Forms wails wailing wailed

  1. verb (intransitive) To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
  2. verb (intransitive) To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
  3. verb (intransitive) To make a noise like mourning or crying. “The wind wailed and the rain streamed down.”
  4. verb (transitive) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over. “to wail one's death”
  5. verb (slang, music) To perform with great liveliness and force.
  6. noun A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish. “She let out a loud, doleful wail.”
  7. noun Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl. “The wail of snow-dark winter winds.”
  8. noun A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.
  9. verb (obsolete) Synonym of wale (“to choose; to select”).
  10. proper noun A locality in the Rural City of Horsham, western Victoria, Australia.

Synonyms

groan moan burst into tears beweep cry cry one's eyes out greet shed a tear shed tears squirt some weep keen ululate lament mourn afterthink becry begrieve bemoan bemourn lamentation plaint howl roar yawl yaup whimper mewl pule

Etymology

c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”), from Old Norse væla (“to wail”), from væ, vei (“woe”), from Proto-Germanic *wai (whence also Old English wā (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European *wáy.
The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14ᵗʰ c.. The noun came from the verb.

From Old Norse val (“choice”). Compare Icelandic velja (“to choose”). More at wale.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To choose; to select. [Obs.] "Wailed wine and meats." Henryson.
  2. verb To lament; to bewail; to grieve over; as, to wail one's death.
  3. verb To express sorrow audibly; to make mournful outcry; to weep.
  4. noun Loud weeping; violent lamentation; wailing. "The wail of the forest." Longfellow.

Etymology [Cf. Icel. val choice, velja to choose, akin to Goth. waljan, G. wählen.]

Etymology [OE. wailen, weilen, probably fr. Icel. væla; cf. Icel. væ, vei, woe, and E. wayment, also OE. wai, wei, woe. Cf. Woe.]

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

Sanskrit

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

All 9 Sanskrit matches →