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

while

/wæl/ noun, conjunction, preposition, verb, proper noun

Forms whiles whiling whiled

  1. noun An uncertain duration of time, a period of time. “He lectured for quite a long while.”
  2. noun An uncertain long period of time
  3. noun (Philippines) An uncertain short moment.
  4. conjunction During the same time that. “He was sleeping while I was singing.”
  5. conjunction Although. “This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating.”
  6. conjunction (Northern England, Scotland) Until. “I'll wait while you've finished painting.”
  7. conjunction As long as. “While you're at school you may live at home.”
  8. verb (transitive, now only in combination with away; see also while away) To pass (time) idly. “I whiled away the hours whilst waiting for him to arrive”
  9. verb (transitive) To occupy or entertain (someone) in order to let time pass.
  10. verb (intransitive, archaic) To elapse, to pass.
  11. proper noun A surname.

Synonyms

spell space throw age aeon ages blue moon coon's age crow's age dog's age donkey's years eld eon eternity forever forever and a day interim interlude interval lifetime piece patch

Antonyms

since until

Etymology

From Middle English whyle, from Old English hwīl, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu, from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (compare Dutch wijl, Low German Wiel, German Weile, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvile (“rest”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvila (“rest”), Swedish vila (“rest”), Faroese and Icelandic hvíla (“rest”)) from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Cognate with Albanian sillë (“breakfast”), Latin tranquillus, Sanskrit चिर (cirá), Persian شاد (šâd).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a time; as, one while we thought him innocent. "All this while." Shak.
  2. noun That which requires time; labor; pains. [Obs.]
  3. verb To cause to pass away pleasantly or without irksomeness or disgust; to spend or pass; --usually followed by away.
  4. verb To loiter. [R.] Spectator.

Etymology [AS. hwil; akin to OS. hwil, hwila, OFries. hwile, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wila, hwila, hwil, Icel. hvila a bed, hvild rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. Quiet, Whilom.]

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

Sanskrit

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

All 52 Sanskrit matches →