Help Contents

8. Trademarks

9. Technical Help

10. Online_Updates

1. Using the dictionary

2.1   Headword

3.1    The basic rules of inflection and derivation

3.2    Inflection of words ending in o

3.3    Words ending in y

3.4     Words ending in e

3.5     Doubling of a final consonant

3.6     Words ending in c

3.7    -ie- or -ei-?

5. Detailed chart of pronunciation

6.1   Introduction

7.1   American English

8. Chambers Dictionary Language Resources

3.    Spelling Rules

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The most important spelling rules are explained in this article; an understanding of these is assumed for all entries in the dictionary where no inflected form (plural, past tense, etc) is given. Inflected forms are given for words that have inflections with unpredictable spellings (eg tangos and mangoes), inflections with spellings that do not follow the general rules (paid and laid as opposed to played), or inflections that are regular but about which there is often uncertainty (eg monkeys, not 'monkies').

In general, derivatives (eg nouns and adverbs based on adjectives, such as brightness and brightly from bright, or adjectives formed from nouns, such as noisy from noise) are spelt out in full in the dictionary, but since the rules for the formation of such derivatives are much the same as for inflections, they are covered here also.

The rules given here are those that apply in British English. See also Varieties of English for the rules of American spelling, where these differ from the British norm.

3.1    The basic rules of inflection and derivation:

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(i) Plural nouns are normally formed by adding -s to the singular form:

cat            cats

dog           dogs

horse         horses

(NB There should be no apostrophe before the s in a plural noun; forms like bag's of potato's are commonly seen but are quite wrong. Do's is an exception, though dos is also correct.)

Verbs are generally inflected by adding -s, -ing and -ed to the base form:

follow     follows     following     followed

If a word ends in s, z, x, sh or ch, -es is added rather than -s:

kiss         kisses

box         boxes

push       pushes

However, if the ch is pronounced /k/or /hh/ , -s alone is added:

stomachs     lochs     psychs

(ii) Comparative and superlative adjectives (and some adverbs) are formed by the addition of -er and -est to the base form:

black     blacker     blackest

(iii) Derivatives of nouns, verbs and adjectives are generally formed by the simple addition of a suffix to the stem:

sing          singer

move        movement

red           redness

cruel        cruelty

Adjectives which end in ic form adverbs in -ally:

economic     economically

(The only common exception is publicly.)

3.2    Inflection of words ending in o:

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 (i) Most nouns ending in o add -s to form the plural:

zoo          zoos

radio        radios

albino      albinos

A small group of words add -es, eg cargoes, echoes, goes, heroes, potatoes. A number of words, such as banjo, fiasco and halo, may add either -s or -es. These are indicated in the dictionary.

(ii) For the 3rd person singular of the present tense of the verb, the rule for adding -s or -es can be stated in terms of the noun rules:

If the noun takes only -s, or if there is no related noun, add -s:

two radios → she radios

If the noun takes -es in the plural, or may take either -s or -es, add -es to the verb:

two echoes → it echoes

(The main exception to this is do, plural do's or dos, 3rd person singular does.)

3.3    Words ending in y:

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(i) A noun ending in y preceded by a consonant generally has a plural in -ies:

fly             flies

country     countries

Proper nouns are an exception (eg the four Marys), as are words in which the final y belongs to the adverbial part of a compound (eg lay-bys, stand-bys).

If the final y is preceded by a vowel, it does not change to ie in the plural:

day             days

donkey       donkeys

(but see money for the exceptional plural monies)

(ii) The rules for verb inflections are much the same as for nouns. If the y follows a consonant, it changes to ie before -s, but if it follows a vowel, it does not:

cry           cries

deny        denies

but

stay         stays

enjoy       enjoys

buy         buys

Similarly, in the past tense:

cry         cried

deny      denied

but

stay       stayed

enjoy     enjoyed

(Said, paid and laid are exceptions.)

(iii) Adjectives ending in y preceded by a consonant generally change the y to i in the comparative and superlative:

happy       happier       happiest

The only exceptions are a few one-syllable words in which the final y is pronounced /ī/: see the dictionary entries for dry, shy, sly, etc. If the final y is preceded by a vowel, it generally does not change in the comparative and superlative:

grey     greyer     greyest

coy     coyer        coyest

However, a number of adjectives ending in ey (mostly ones based on nouns, eg clayey from clay) change the ey to i:

clayey    clayier     clayiest

(iv) Derivatives follow similar rules as those for inflections, ie a y following a consonant changes to an i before a following suffix (except -ing), whereas one following a vowel does not:

happy     happily     happiness

merry     merriment

deny     denier

envy     enviable

comply compliant

but

coy     coyly     coyness

employ     employment

play     player

enjoy     enjoyable

buoy     buoyant

Words which are exceptions to the inflectional rules tend to be exceptions also to the derivational rules, but the irregularities are not always predictable. See the dictionary entries for dry, shy, sly, etc. (Note also the spelling of busyness, to distinguish it from business.)

3.4    Words ending in e:

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Before a suffix beginning with a vowel, the final e is generally dropped:

smile     smiling     smiled     smiler

white     whiter     whitest     whiten

pale     palish

ice     icy

use     usable

escape     escapism

Before a consonant, the e is retained:

move     movement

use     useful     useless

There are, however, exceptions:

(i) Verbs ending in ee, oe and ye do not drop the e before -ing:

hoe     hoeing

dye     dyeing

(ii) Verbs ending in ie change the ie to y before -ing:

die     dying

tie     tying

(iii) A few verbs retain the final e in order to show the correct pronunciation and to be distinguishable from similar words with no e:

sing     singing

but

singe     singeing

swing     swinging     but     swingeing

(Note also the adjective holey = full of holes, as opposed to holy.)

(iv) Before an a or an o, the e is retained after a soft c or g:

notice     noticing     but     noticeable

advantage     advantageous

(v) Adverbs formed from adjectives ending in le preceded by a consonant simply replace the final e with y:

simple     simply

single     singly

(vi) Words ending in dge may correctly retain or drop the final e in derivatives; thus judgment and judgement, abridgment and abridgement are equally correct.

(vii) Common exceptions to all the above rules are argument, awful, daily, duly, eerily, gaily, truly and wholly.

3.5    Doubling of a final consonant:

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If a word ends in a single consonant which is preceded by a single vowel written with a single letter and the stress of the word is on the final syllable of the word (or if there is only one syllable), the final consonant is doubled before a suffix beginning with a vowel:

drum     drumming     drummed     drummer

omit     omitting     omitted

refer     referring     referred     referral

red     redder     reddest     redden

ton     tonnage

but

dream     dreaming     dreamed     dreamer

profit     profiting     profited

enter     entering     entered

refer     reference (note the change in stress)

green     greener     greenest

A few words double the final consonant contrary to the above rule:

worship     worshipping     worshipped     worshipper

and also format, handicap, hobnob, humbug, kidnap, leapfrog and zigzag)

A final l preceded by a single-letter vowel generally doubles regardless of the position of the stress, as in:

signal     signalling     signalled     signaller

rebel     rebelling     rebellion     rebellious

cancel     cancelling     cancellation

but not before the suffixes -ize/-ise, -ism, -ist and -ity, as in:

equal     equality     equalize

final     finalist

though again there are exceptions, such as medallist, tranquillity and crystallize.

Note also paralleling and paralleled (where one would expect a double ll before the suffix) and woolly and woollen (where one would expect a single l ). A few words allow both single and double consonants: see for example the dictionary entries for benefit, bias, bus, focus, gas, leaflet, plus and yes.

3.6    Words ending in c:

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When a suffix beginning with a vowel is added, and the consonant still has the hard /k/ sound, the c becomes ck:

picnic     picnicking     picnicked     picnicker

Two exceptions are arc and talc:

arcing/arcking     arced/arcked

talcing/talcking     talced/talcked

The forms without k are the commoner. No k is added when the final c becomes a soft sound ( /sh/ or /s/ ) in the derivative:

magic     magicking     magicked

but

magician

electric     electricity

3.7    -ie- or -ei-?

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The rule 'i before e except after c' applies only to words in which the vowel has the long /ē/ sound:

believe     belief

siege

pier

but

deceive     deceit

ceiling

(Common exceptions are seize, weir and weird, scientific words such as protein, caffeine and codeine, and proper names such as Keith, Neil, Sheila, Reid and Madeira.)

If a word is pronounced with the sound /ā/ ei is always the correct spelling:

eight     heir     neighbour     reign     weight

4.    Characters used in other languages

5.    Detailed chart of pronunciation

6.    A short history of English

7. Varieties of English

This dictionary is written with the British speaker of English in mind. However, English exists in many varieties in the world today. Some of the differences between the forms of English spoken and written in Britain and in the rest of the world are shown below.

7.1    American English

The characteristic American spellings of a number of individual words (eg manoeuvre/maneuver, defence/defense, practise/practice) are noted in the dictionary. Some spelling differences involving groups of similar words are as follows:

British	US
-ogue	-og	American English simplifies words such as catalogue and pedagogue to catalog and pedagog.
-our	-or	American English has -or in words such as color and humor. Glamour and saviour, however, are generally written -our.
-re	-er	Eg center, meter, theater. But to show the hard sound of c or g: acre, massacre, ogre, etc; however, meager not meagre.
ll	l	In inflections and derivatives of words ending in l not immediately preceded by a single stressed vowel, American English does not double the l: canceled, counselor, disheveled, equaled, marvelous, traveler, etc. (Note also woolen.)
pp	p	Similarly, kidnaper, worshiping, etc.
tt	t	And also carburetor (but eg formatting).
l	ll	Eg enroll, fulfill, instill, skillful and willful.
ae, oe or e	e	The tendency to replace ae and oe by e in words derived from Latin and Greek is more strongly developed in the US than in Britain, eg esophagus, hemoglobin.
-ize or -ise	-ize	In verbs that may be spelt -ize or -ise, the use of -ize is now standard in American English. Note also analyze, paralyze, etc.

As a rule, hyphens are used less frequently in American English than in British English, although there is an increasing tendency to omit hyphens in Britain as well.

Generally speaking, American pronunciation differs from British English as follows:

British	US
ä	In many words, eg ask, dance, half and rather, American English has a shorter, more front vowel than that of standard British English.
i	Where British English has /i/ in final position in words such as happy and city, American English has /ē/.
ö	An alternative pronunciation /ä/ is common in words such as haunt, launch, saunter, taunt and vaunt.
o	In American English, words such as block, got, pond, probable and top are pronounced with an /ä/ sound. In words in which the vowel is followed by f, s, th, r, g or ng, eg coffee, dog, cross, forest and long, a longer vowel similar to /ö/ is also common.
ū	After the sounds t, d, n, l and s, American English has /oo/ rather than /ū/ eg in new and tune.
ī	In most words ending in -ile, such as agile, fertile, fragile and hostile, American English pronounces the final syllable as /-il/ rather than /īl/.
t	In words such as latter, metal and writing, the -tt-/-t- is pronounced with the same sound as that of the -dd-/-d- in ladder, medal and riding.
r	In most accents of American English r is pronounced at the end of a word and before a consonant.

There are a number of differences between the American pronunciation of vowels followed by r and the British pronunciation of the corresponding vowels:

British	US
a	Some Americans tend to make a sound approaching /e/, so that, for example, marry approximates to merry.
ā	This is commonly pronounced as a diphthong before r, the first element of which is close to a lengthened /e/. The second element of the diphthong, /ə/, is sometimes not pronounced when the vowel occurs in initial or medial position; eg the usual pronunciation of Maryland is /mer'i-lənd/.
är spelt -er-	In words such as clerk and Derby, where British speech preserves an older pronunciation /är/, American speech has /ûr/.
-ə-ri	American English tends to give greater prominence than British English does to the suffixes -ary and -ory, and often also -ery; for example, monetary (Brit /-tə-ri or -tri/, US /-te-ri/), confectionery (Brit /-nə-ri/, US /-ne-ri/) and obligatory (Brit /-tə-ri/ or -tri/, US /-tö -ri/).

In addition to the above, many differences between American and British English pronunciation are noted in the entries for particular words and prefixes in the dictionary. See for example anti-, schedule, simultaneous and tomato.

Many differences between British and American usage with regard to vocabulary and meaning are noted in the dictionary, eg bonnet/hood, coffin/casket, curtains/drapes, estate agent/realtor, motorway/expressway, pavement/sidewalk, sweets/candy and windscreen/windshield.

7.2    Canadian English

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In spelling, Canadian usage stands midway between American English and British English. The usage is, however, far from uniform and varies from province to province and even from person to person. Hence spellings such as color, traveler and center, and colour, traveller and centre, are to be found alongside each other.

In pronunciation, Canadian English exhibits features found in both American and British English, although it more commonly follows American English: eg speakers of Canadian English pronounce tomato with an /ā/.

British	Canadian
r	Like American English, Canadian English pronounces r in word-final position and before a consonant.
t	In the pronunciation of many Canadians, words such as matter and madder rhyme, as in American English.
i	The sound heard in squirrel, etc approaches /û/.
-īl	Of the words which end in /-īl/ in British English, most, eg docile, textile, fragile, end in /-īl/ as in British English, but some such as missile and fertile may end in /-il / as in American English.
ī, ow	In Canadian English, the vowels in eg loud and ride do not rhyme with those of lout and write.

7.3    English in Australia and New Zealand

Although there are differences between the English of Australia and that of New Zealand, the two varieties are sufficiently similar to be treated together. Vocabulary that is peculiar to this region includes: names of local flora and fauna (bowerbird, galah, wallaby); words to do with local topography and everyday life, some imported in extended use into British English (black stump, bush, outback, walkabout); general words that do not exist in British English in the same meaning (bullock = 'to work very hard', king-hit = 'knockout blow'); and many colourful colloquialisms and idioms (beaut, bludge, crook, dinkum, she's apples).

The spelling of Australian and New Zealand English traditionally follows that of British English but American spelling is now sometimes also found. Features of pronunciation that can be noted are:

British	Australian, New Zealand
r	As in British English, r is not pronounced before a consonant or at the end of a word, except by speakers in the southern part of the South Island of New Zealand.
i	Australian and New Zealand English have /ē/ in words such as happy and very, where British English has /i/. In closed unstressed syllables, where British English has /i/, Australian and New Zealand English have /ə/, as for example in mistake, defeat, ticket, etc.
oor	The pronunciation /ŭə/ of words like sure, pure, etc has been almost entirely superseded by either /ö/ or /ooə/.
ä	In many words in which British English has /ä/, Australian and New Zealand English have /a/. In words ending in -ance, New Zealand English has /ä/ where Australian English has /a/ or /ä/. In Australian English lather is pronounced with /a/, but in New Zealand with /ä/.
ō	Before l, this is usually pronounced as /o/.

7.4    English in South Africa

In the 19th century, varieties of English were developed by the Dutch (influenced by Afrikaans), by the black population (influenced by local African languages) and by Indian immigrants who arrived in the country in the second half of the century. English has been an official language of South Africa since 1910; Afrikaans replaced Dutch as an official language in 1925. During the apartheid era, Afrikaans was spoken by the white population and was regarded as the language of authority and government, whereas English, although a minority language, was spoken by many blacks, both as a language of political protest and as a means of attaining an international voice. At the end of the apartheid era, many African languages were also accepted as official languages.

The English of South Africa is therefore not a homogeneous variety, and the influences on it have been diverse. Many of the loan words from Afrikaans and African languages relate to local flora and fauna and other aspects of everyday life (some imported into British English): aardvark (an animal), baas (master), backveld (remote country), dikkop (a type of bird), donga (Zulu; gully), fundi (Nguni; an expert), induna (Zulu; a tribal leader), jukskei (an outdoor game), koppie (a low hill), mossie (a type of bird), poort (a mountain pass), sjambok (a whip), snoek (a fish) and springbok (an animal). A number of terms have permeated world consciousness for historical reasons, notably apartheid, commando, trek and veld. Words of English derivation include pig-lily (a kind of local lily) and square-face (gin), and words of mixed origin include kingklip (a fish). In other cases, words known in British English have special meanings in South African English, eg bioscope (a cinema), camp (a fenced-off area of pasture), canteen (a public house), lay-by (a down payment), robot (a traffic signal), stamp (pounded maize) and township (a black urban settlement).

Apart from relatively few and minor peculiarities of vocabulary, the standard English of South Africa is very similar to that of British English. South African pronunciation of English is characterized by a clipped accent with tight vowel sounds and more strongly articulated consonants /p/, /t/ and /k/. Other features are as follows:

British	South Africa
r	The S African English treatment of r word-finally and before consonants is the same as that of British English.
i	S African English has /ē/ where British English has /i/ in very, secretary, etc. In other positions, / i/ is pronounced more centrally than in British English, with a vowel close to /ə/.
a, e, ä, etc	There is a tendency to raise these vowels to values approaching /e/, / i/, /o/ or /ö/, etc so giving /de'dē/ for daddy, /kit'l/ for kettle, and so on.
ār	This is normally pronounced as a long /e/ or /ā/sound in words like bear, fair, etc.

7.5    English in the Indian Subcontinent

The use of English in the Indian Subcontinent dates from the first British contacts with the region in the 17th century; between then and independence in 1947 English developed into the language of government and education. Today, Hindi is the official language of India, and English has 'associate' status, although it has no such status beside Urdu in Pakistan and Bengali in Bangladesh.

English in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is normally learned as a second language, and is often greatly influenced by the speaker's first language. Thus no homogeneous Indian English can be described here but only a number of features about which one may make some general remarks.

Two common features of Indian English are the use of retroflex ṭ, ḍ , etc for British English t, d, etc, and the substitution of p, t, d for f, th, dh. Speakers whose native language is Hindi or Urdu tend to insert an i before the initial consonant clusters in words such as speech and school, because these consonant groups do not occur in initial position in Hindi or Urdu.

Indian English pronounces word-final and preconsonantal r.

Vowels in unstressed syllables are often pronounced in the way they would be in stressed syllables, where British English has /ə/ or /i/.

British contact with the peoples and languages of the Indian Subcontinent has resulted in a number of English loan words, including the familiar bungalow (from Hindi), guru (from Hindi), jodhpurs (from a place-name) and pyjamas (from Hindustani). Some English words and expressions are used in special ways: demit means 'to resign' (as in Scottish English) and prepone, meaning 'to bring forward to an earlier date', has a wider currency than it does in British English.

7.6    English in South-East Asia

The use of English in SE Asia dates from the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th, when the British East India Company established settlements at Penang and Singapore in the country then called Malaya; these two places, together with Malacca, had been formed into the Straits Settlements by 1867. In 1898, Britain bought from China a 99-year lease on the New Territories of Hong Kong, and other territories in the region became British protectorates.

Malaysia became independent in 1957, and the Federation of Malaysia was formed in1963. Singapore achieved self-government in 1959 and (after a brief period of incorporation in the Federation) full independence in 1965. The principal languages of the area (in addition to English) are Chinese, Tamil and Malay, reflecting the ethnic mix of the populations. Hong Kong was returned to China on expiry of the lease in 1997.

The situation today is that British English is the dominant influence in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, while American English is more influential in the Philippines and other areas of the South Pacific, as a legacy of the American acquisition of these territories after the Spanish-American War of 1898. In Singapore, English continued as the language of government, but education was based on a bilingual system of English and one of the three ethnic languages. In Malaysia, Malay (or, more accurately, Bahasa Malaysia) has been the official language since 1957, although more recently English has been actively promoted as a second language.

In the light of these historical facts, it is more realistic to speak of Singaporean English than of Malaysian English, although this is likely to change with time. Some linguists, however, prefer to regard the forms of English used in Singapore and in Malaysia as subvarieties of a larger distinct variety, which they call Singaporean and Malaysian English (SME). In Singapore, since three-quarters of the population are ethnically Chinese, Mandarin and other Chinese languages are likely to exert a strong influence on the development of Singaporean English.

The vocabulary of English in SE Asia includes a few items that are also familiar in British English, such as lychee and yin and yang. Then there are words of English origin that are used mainly by Singaporean and Malaysian speakers as a part of their culture or lifestyle, such as airflown (denoting freshly imported food) and red packet (a red envelope containing money, given on ceremonial occasions), and more informal uses (sometimes disparagingly called Singlish) such as to cut ('to overtake') and to zap ('to photocopy'). Other words, such as sarabat (a strong-tasting drink made of ginger and sugar) and silat (the Malay equivalent of kung fu) are not English in origin, and represent concepts for which no other word exists. Finally and (in the context of SE Asian usage) more controversially, there are slang words of non-English origin, such as chim ('profound'), malu ('shameful') and others that are less easy to translate, such as kiasu (roughly, 'afraid to lose out').

Differences in pronunciation of English in SE Asia are largely affected by the influence of the other principal languages of the area, Chinese, Tamil and Malay. The principal features are (1) some consonants (notably /p/, /t/ and /k/) are not aspirated, (2) the last consonant of two at the end of a word (eg lamp, first) will often be silent, (3) there are considerable differences in vowel quality in words such as bid, cot, stuff and pull (in which the vowel tends to be longer) and in the articulation of diphthongs, as in bait, boat and bare (which tend to be shorter and closer to the first sound of the diphthong).

8. Chambers Dictionary Language Resources

8.1 Cited authors

This resource contains information on the authors who are cited within the main dictionary entries. Selected works are listed with date of first publication in brackets.

8.2 Non-English phrases

This resource contains some additional non-English  phrases and quotations. Other non-English words which are often used in an English context will be found in the main dictionary content.

C. The Chambers Thesaurus Help Contents

1.    Clear distinction of senses

2.    Synonyms grouped by register

3.    Countrywide and worldwide English

4.    Related adjectives

5.    Confusable words

6.    Hyponym panels

7.    Synonym nuance panels

1.    Clear distinction of senses

Senses within an entry are distinguished by numbered sections and by either a key synonym in SMALL CAPITALS or an example in blue

2.    Synonyms grouped by register

Synonyms are listed by range of context ('register') to show the appropriate styles within which words are used.

TECHNICAL

indicates a word that is restricted to a certain subject area such as music, philosophy, medicine or law, eg codicil (a supplement to a will) at supplement

OLD

indicates a word that is no longer in common use, be it obsolete, archaic or literary, eg spoffish at fussy

SHAKESPEARE and SPENSER are extra labels used to annotate words featured in the works of Shakespeare and Spenser.

FORMAL

indicates a formal word, eg discourse and colloquium at discussion

COLLOQUIAL

indicates an informal word, eg powwow at discussion

SLANG

indicates a word used only very informally, eg dough and dosh at money

derogatory, offensive, vulgar and taboo are extra labels used to annotate words considered particularly vulgar or which may give offence.

3.    Countrywide and worldwide English

Terms from varieties of English from around Britain and around the world are included (eg North American ornery at stubborn), and labelled as

dialect (usually indicates Northern English dialects)

Scottish

Welsh

Irish

North American (used mainly in the United States and, sometimes, Canada)

Canadian (used mainly in Canada, rather than the United States)

Australian

New Zealand

South African

4.    Related adjectives

Where a headword has an adjective related to it, a note is included. For example, the entry meaning gives the related adjective semantic.

5.    Confusable words

Where a headword is sometimes confused with another word, eg censor or censure, fatal or fateful, concise explanatory notes are included to distinguish them.
The explanations are backed up by example phrases and sentences.

6.    Hyponym panels

Around 500 special panels show word families ('hyponyms'), and give lists of related words presenting:
different types of, eg film, food and sport

• parts of, eg the brain, a flower and a motor vehicle

• the terminology used in particular subject areas, eg cookery, football and medicine

• informative encyclopedic information, eg longest rivers, highest mountains and active volcanoes

7.    Synonym nuance panels

Synonym nuance panels distinguish shades of meaning among synonyms in over 300 entries, identifying and exemplifying words that :

• have particular associations or convey certain suggestions:
  

• have a particular tone or convey an attitude on the part of the speaker:
  

• usually have a specific referent or context : 

D. The Unabridged French-English English-French Help Contents

2. Entry organization and editorial policy

2.1 Scope

2.2 Grammatical divisions

2.3 Semantic divisions

2.4 English compounds

2.5 Grammatical information

2.6 Register

2.7 Specialist language

2.8 International coverage

3. Entry Display

3.1 Special Characters and Symbols

3.2 Abbreviations

3.3 Pronunciation Symbols

4. Verb Conjugator

5. Language Resources

5.1 Glossary of Grammatical Terms

5.2 Usage

5.3 Culture

5.4 Works of Art

5.5 Allusions

5.6 Word-building

1. Localization

For users subscribed to www.harrapsonline.com you can choose an English or French interface by using the buttons at the top right of the screen. 

2. Entry organization and editorial policy

2.1   Scope

This dictionary offers fuller international coverage of French and English languages than will be found in any other general bilingual available.

Much of this international coverage was supplied by consultants with specialist knowledge of the different varieties of each language. Consultants' input was also invaluable in the creation of the specialist language databases in such areas as IT, finance and slang which were exploited in the writing of this book. An experienced reading panel of university lecturers brought fresh insights to the text and made many valuable suggestions.

In producing a dictionary of the size of the Unabridged, the editors have sought to include as many terms and phrases as possible. It would, however, be wrong to assert that the Unabridged gives comprehensive coverage of the English and French languages, as such an achievement would be beyond a dictionary even twice as large. What can be reasonably claimed, however, is that the Unabridged gives a full and wide-ranging view of the two languages as they are spoken and written at the beginning of the 21st century.

2.2  Grammatical divisions

The grammatical classification of an entry is marked with a label in red capitals.

2.3  Semantic divisions

The different senses of a word are each introduced by a number in bold type.

Nuances of senses, or semantic splits required to show different translations for the same sense, are shown within the same sense category by using indicating material in brackets. This material may consist of a synonym or typical collocating words, eg the objects of a transitive verb, or the nouns with which an adjective is commonly used. In some cases, both are given, with an arrow preceding the collocating words.

In some more complex entries with many senses, the senses are subdivided first into larger sense groups, each of which is then further divided. In these cases, a bold upper-case letter indicates the major sense division and indicating material in capitals describes it.

2.4  English compounds

In this dictionary English compounds of two or more words have been presented under the entry for the first word of the compound. They appear in alphabetical order in a block at the end of the entry. The block is clearly labeled

The rule of entering a compound under its first element means, for example, that sedge warbler, melodious warbler and garden warbler will be found under sedge, melodious and garden respectively, and not at the entry warbler. Hyphenated words in both English and French, however, appear as entries in their own right, in the relevant alphabetical order.

2.5  Grammatical information

Plurals

When a French noun has an irregular plural, this is shown immediately after the headword, sometimes in brackets:

Note that the plural of hyphenated French nouns is always given, unless the noun does not change its form in the plural, in which case it is marked invariable:

Similarly, English irregular plurals are also given after the headword, placed in brackets:

English verb forms

Irregular forms of English verbs are given after the headword for that verb:

French verb conjugations

An icon marked is shown after each French verb. Clicking on this will open up the full conjugation of the verb.

2.6  Register

The register of all words and phrases in the source language is clearly indicated in this dictionary. Register labels are used to indicate the level of language - whether formal (Formal/Soutenu), informal (Familiar/Familier), very informal (very Familiar/très Familier), or vulgar (Vulgar/Vulgaire) - and also to indicate usage, showing whether a word is, for example, pejorative, ironic or euphemistic.

As far as possible, the translations given match the register of the word in the source language and no register markers are therefore applied to translations, as the user can assume that the translation is a close register match of the source language item. For example:

In cases where it has proved impossible to find an exact equivalent in terms of register for a word that is informal, or where it is considered desirable to include a neutral alternative translation, the neutral register of the translation is indicated by a superscript lozenge that comes immediately after the translation. For example:

Those French terms which are examples of verlan (the process of inverting syllables to create a slang word) have been labelled as such, with the original form indicated in brackets:

Similarly, those British slang words which are examples of rhyming slang have been labelled, with both the full form of the original phrase and the word with which it rhymes indicated. Note that where, as in the example below, the term is not widely used in Britain but restricted to southern England, and particularly the London area, it is labelled Southern English.

Many terms from the Canadian French dialect Joual have been included in this dictionary. They have all been labelled Joual but do not have any additional labelling as to the level of language. This labelling should be understood, however, to imply that the term is non-standard and of a colloquial level of language.

Register labels can occur in various combinations. A word can be either archaic or literary, old-fashioned or humorous, for example. In such cases the presentation is as follows:

A word which is simultaneously informal and old-fashioned, or informal and euphemistic, will be presented as follows with the labels in sequence:

In the cases of certain words belonging to a particular variety of slang such as drugs or crime slang, the register label Familiar or very Familiar etc is accompanied by labels indicating the variety to which the term in question belongs. For example:

In instances where a term is given two translations, one technical and the other non-technical, the technical translation is placed second and preceded by the label Specialist Term or Vocabulaire de spécialité on the English-French and French-English sides respectively. The technical translation has been given in addition to the neutral one where the word being translated can be used in both technical and non-technical contexts.

Some French words in this dictionary are marked with the label Officially Recommended. This indicates that the word in question is an officially recommended form, used less commonly than an alternative term which is often derived from English:

2.7  Specialist language

The Unabridged features a vast number of specialized items of vocabulary relating to areas as diverse as computing, finance, law, science and medicine. Many technical terms have been retained from the Harrap Standard, which was used as a source for this dictionary, while a great many new terms have been added, particularly terminology created by the growth of the Internet or connected with fast-evolving areas like the stock market or genetic engineering.

Field labels are used primarily to indicate specialist vocabulary, or to differentiate the various meanings of the headword. In cases where a word has several meanings in different domains, all with the same translation, field labels are combined in sequence to show that the translation works for all the senses indicated. For example:

2.8  International coverage

This dictionary differs from its competitors in giving very full coverage of the international varieties of both English and French. In the English-French volume of the dictionary, thorough treatment of English as it is used in Britain and in America is complemented by extensive coverage of Australian, Irish and Scottish English. Thus, terms which the user might search for in vain in other bilingual dictionaries – such as beyond the Black Stump, gurrier and muckle (Australian, Irish and Scottish, respectively) to cite but three – will be found within the Harrap Unabridged.

Similarly, in the French-English volume, Canadian French is well represented, as are Belgian French and Swiss French.

This reflects the dictionary's policy of ensuring coverage of the French language as it is used outside France. While this coverage cannot claim to be exhaustive, the editors of the dictionary hope that they have succeeded in their aim of including a substantial quantity of words and expressions from each of these French-speaking countries. As mentioned above, Canadian French joual terms have been included, as have terms particular to Acadian, the dialect spoken in the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island). These latter terms have been labelled (en acadien).

Likewise, when a term is specific to a certain French-speaking canton of Switzerland, it is labelled accordingly.

In all these cases, work done by a team of consultants from the countries concerned, combined with material drawn from monolingual sources, has formed the basis for a final selection of words and expressions associated with each country. Regional varieties of both languages are also covered, with terms from, for example, Southern France or Northern England featuring among the entries and expressions treated.

As far as target language is concerned, in the French-English volume of the dictionary, British and American variant translations are shown systematically, marked as British English and American English respectively:

On English-French, Belgian, Canadian and Swiss variant translations are also shown where appropriate:

3.     Entry Display

3.1 Special Characters and Symbols

There a number of special symbols used in the dictionary which are described below:

The symbol ∼ is used to designate the nearest cultural equivalent translation where no direct match exists

An equals sign = is used to designate a gloss or approximation

A superscript lozenge is used to indicate a mismatch in register, where a neutral register has been used

An asterisk, *, before an "h" in a French word means it is "aspirate", ie you cannot make a contraction or liaison in front of it like most words beginning with an "h", eg la hache

The icon is a link to the French verb conjugation. Click on the symbol to see the full listing for the French verb.

If you hover your mouse over these symbols you will see their meaning displayed in a tooltip.

The speaker icon   indicates the word has associated audio, click on the symbol to play the audio file.

 

3.2  Abbreviations

In general we have avoided common dictionary abbreviating style. There are still a few abbreviations used in the dictionary and these are described below:

sb = somebody

sth = something

qch = quelque chose

qn = quelqu'un

3.3  Pronunciation Symbols

Pronunciation information has been given for all words using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an explanation of the symbols used in The Unabridged see the English chart and the French chart. In contrast to most bilingual dictionaries, a phonetic transcription has been given for all abbreviations, unless they are only used in written language. Thus it will be clear whether the abbreviation is an acronym or its letters are pronounced individually.

4.     Verb Conjugator

Access the verb conjugator by clicking on

Select your language from the dropdown menu and click   or press return. Alternatively you can browse through the list of verbs.

5.     Language Resources

These are available from the right side of the screen

The language resources' menus update depending on which resource you have selected on the left-hand Choose box as the dictionary and language resources are associated.

Select the group you are interested from the dropdown menu and you will see a list of the contents displayed. Click on any of these to display the entry in the middle panel.

5.1  Glossary of Grammatical Terms

An explanation of commonly used grammatical terms.

5.2  Usage

A selection of language usage notes which also appear in the main entry.

5.3  Culture

The Harrap Unabridged contains over five hundred notes on cultural topics, where extra information that could not be conveyed in a conventional translation or gloss format is highlighted in a boxed entry integrated into the main text. Many of these notes concern "culture-specific" items, that is to say topics whose relevance or implications may not be immediately obvious to non-native speakers; other more encyclopedic-style notes provide the user with information on terms relating to the politics or history of the country. Examples in the English-French volume are the notes at devolution, countryside debate and gun control. In the French-English volume bizutage, charentaises and cohabitation are similarly explained for the non-native user. In line with the dictionary policy of comprehensive international coverage, the boxes include information on items of Canadian, Irish and Scottish relevance as well as French Canadian, Belgian and Swiss items.

5.4  Works of Art

The dictionary contains around a thousand titles of works of art with their equivalents in the target language. Famous paintings as well as films, works of literature and music are covered. These are to be found at the end of the entry for the first important word in the title (for example Dickens' Hard Times is at the end of the entry hard, and Proust's À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur at ombre) and are preceded by text designating the genre to which the work of art belongs. While many of these items have perfectly straightforward translations, it will be found that others are translated in quite unexpected ways.

The titles included are a selection of those judged to be either culturally significant or which generate interesting translations.

5.5  Allusions

A major innovative feature of this dictionary is the inclusion of notes on allusions, explaining to non-native speakers how certain phrases are used allusively in the other language. The allusions are often literary but many also derive from areas such as advertisements and popular culture. These notes are designed to enable the user to decode areas of language which might otherwise remain opaque. In each case, the origin of the phrase is explained in addition to its contemporary usage. Examples on English-French are come up and see me some time, dark Satanic mills and magical mystery tour, and on French-English le mot de Cambronne, le degré zéro and faire avancer le schmilblick.

More than 250 allusions have been selected for the dictionary. Our selection has been guided by the degree to which the phrase is used in the language and its origin is recognized by native speakers.

5.6  Word-building

A feature new to this edition of the Harrap Unabridged and unique to Harrap bilingual dictionaries is the inclusion of boxed notes integrated into the main text covering common prefixes and suffixes, designed to provide the user with an insight into word building and the generation of new words. More than 100 prefixes and suffixes have been selected for this feature and the notes cover the most common senses of the prefix or suffix and how it can be used to create new words.