Women pronunciation
Women has 2 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "wih". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Press record, say "women" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.
Women syllables
Women has 2 syllables: WIH-muhn.
- WIHwɪ
- muhnmən
WIM-in. The o is pronounced as a short i — the vowel change is entirely in the first syllable, even though the spelling only changes the second. This is one of the most irregular plurals in English.
Sounds to watch
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.
Weak syllables
The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.
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.
Women in a sentence
- Three women founded the company in a rented garage.
- The women’s team plays its home matches on Saturday.
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.
- Vowel influenced too strongly by spellingLearn the sound using IPA and audio rather than pronouncing every written vowel.
- /v/ and /w/ confusedUse teeth-on-lip contact for /v/ and rounded lips without contact for /w/.
- Final consonant omittedHold the final mouth position briefly without adding another vowel.
- Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
- /ɪ/ and /iː/ confusedMake /iː/ higher, tenser and usually longer than /ɪ/.
Questions
How do you pronounce women?
Women is pronounced /ˈwɪ.mən/, or WIH-muhn in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "wih".
How many syllables are in women?
2: WIH-muhn. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use women in a sentence?
Three women founded the company in a rented garage. The women’s team plays its home matches on Saturday.
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