How to pronounce

How to pronounce Philosopher

/fə.ˈlɑ.sə.fɚ/
fuh-LAH-suh-fur

Philosopher has 4 syllables. The stress is on the second syllable, "lah". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.

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Accent

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

Philosopher syllables

Philosopher has 4 syllables: fuh-LAH-suh-fur.

  1. fuh
  2. LAH
  3. suh
  4. fur

Stress "los", the second syllable: fih-LOS-uh-fer.

Sounds to watch

The l sound

Touch the tongue tip to the ridge behind your top teeth. At the end of a syllable the l is darker and the back of the tongue rises.

Weak syllables

The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.

The er vowel

American er (as in her) is a single vowel with the tongue bunched back. Keep the r quality through the whole vowel.

Philosopher in a sentence

  • The philosopher argued that happiness cannot be measured.
  • My grandmother was a philosopher without ever reading philosophy.

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.

  • Stress placed on the wrong syllableMake the correct syllable longer, clearer and more prominent.
  • Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
  • Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.

Questions

How do you pronounce philosopher?

Philosopher is pronounced /fə.ˈlɑ.sə.fɚ/, or fuh-LAH-suh-fur in plain letters. It has 4 syllables and the stress falls on the second syllable, "lah".

How many syllables are in philosopher?

4: fuh-LAH-suh-fur. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.

How do you use philosopher in a sentence?

The philosopher argued that happiness cannot be measured. My grandmother was a philosopher without ever reading philosophy.

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