How to pronounce

Bourgeois pronunciation

/bʊrʒ.ˈwɑ/
buurzh-WAH

Bourgeois has 2 syllables. The stress is on the second syllable, "wah". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.

Say bourgeois and check it

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Accent

Press record, say "bourgeois" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.

Bourgeois syllables

Bourgeois has 2 syllables: buurzh-WAH.

  1. buurzhbʊrʒ
  2. WAH

Boor-ZHWAH, two syllables, stress on the second. The "ge" is the soft "zh" of "measure", and the final s is silent.

Sounds to watch

The r sound

Pull the tongue back and up without touching the roof of the mouth. American r is never rolled or tapped.

The w sound

Round your lips as if for oo and glide into the next vowel. No teeth contact, or it turns into a v.

The zh sound

This is the s in measure: like sh, but with the voice switched on.

Consonant clusters

Three consonants run together with no vowel between them. Say them as one movement rather than inserting an "uh"; slowing down is fine, adding a vowel is not.

Bourgeois in a sentence

  • He dismissed the whole plan as hopelessly bourgeois.
  • The novel mocks the bourgeois obsession with appearances.

Read either sentence into the recorder above. The check judges only the target word, so the rest of the sentence can be rough.

What Speakeroo listens for

These are the pronunciation patterns from Speakeroo’s speech feature catalog that this target tends to expose. The check above reports the ones it hears.

  • Extra syllable addedBlend adjacent sounds and avoid pronouncing silent letters.
  • /r/ distorted or unclearUse the selected accent’s tongue shape without pressing the tongue against the palate.
  • /v/ and /w/ confusedUse teeth-on-lip contact for /v/ and rounded lips without contact for /w/.
  • Consonant cluster reducedBuild the cluster one sound at a time without deleting a member.
  • Extra vowel after a consonantFinish directly on the consonant instead of adding a vowel.

Questions

How do you pronounce bourgeois?

Bourgeois is pronounced /bʊrʒ.ˈwɑ/, or buurzh-WAH in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the second syllable, "wah".

How many syllables are in bourgeois?

2: buurzh-WAH. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.

How do you use bourgeois in a sentence?

He dismissed the whole plan as hopelessly bourgeois. The novel mocks the bourgeois obsession with appearances.

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