Veterinary pronunciation
Veterinary has 4 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "veh". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Veterinary syllables
Veterinary has 4 syllables: VEH-truh-neh-ree.
- VEHvɛ
- truhtrə
- nehnɛ
- reeri
VET-ruh-nair-ee, four syllables, stress on the first. Most speakers drop the second "-er-" entirely; saying all six letters of the middle turns it into a tongue-twister.
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 v sound
Rest your top teeth on your bottom lip and add voice. Keep it distinct from w, which uses rounded lips and no teeth.
Weak syllables
The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.
Veterinary in a sentence
- The veterinary clinic opens at seven for emergencies.
- She is in her final year of veterinary school.
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.
- Vowel influenced too strongly by spellingLearn the sound using IPA and audio rather than pronouncing every written vowel.
- /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/.
- Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
Questions
How do you pronounce veterinary?
Veterinary is pronounced /ˈvɛ.trə.ˌnɛ.ri/, or VEH-truh-neh-ree in plain letters. It has 4 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "veh".
How many syllables are in veterinary?
4: VEH-truh-neh-ree. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use veterinary in a sentence?
The veterinary clinic opens at seven for emergencies. She is in her final year of veterinary school.
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