Ethnic pronunciation
Ethnic has 2 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "ehth". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Ethnic syllables
Ethnic has 2 syllables: EHTH-nihk.
- EHTHɛθ
- nihknɪk
ETH-nik, two syllables, stress on the first. The "th" is soft as in "thin", and it runs straight into the n with no vowel between.
Sounds to watch
The th sound
Put the tip of your tongue lightly between your teeth and let air pass over it. Do not swap it for a t, d, s, or z sound.
Short i versus ee
The short i (as in sit) is shorter and more relaxed than ee. Many learners stretch it into ee, which changes the word.
Ethnic in a sentence
- The census asks about ethnic background in the second section.
- The market sells ethnic foods from all over the region.
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.
- Voiceless th /θ/ replacedPlace the tongue lightly between the teeth and release air without voicing.
- /t/ or /d/ used for thKeep a narrow airflow gap instead of fully blocking the air.
- Final consonant omittedHold the final mouth position briefly without adding another vowel.
- /ɪ/ and /iː/ confusedMake /iː/ higher, tenser and usually longer than /ɪ/.
- Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.
Questions
How do you pronounce ethnic?
Ethnic is pronounced /ˈɛθ.nɪk/, or EHTH-nihk in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "ehth".
How many syllables are in ethnic?
2: EHTH-nihk. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use ethnic in a sentence?
The census asks about ethnic background in the second section. The market sells ethnic foods from all over the region.
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