How to pronounce “athlete”
Say “athlete” in 2 beats
athlete
/ˈæθlit/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ˈæθliːt/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- æθæθstress
- litlit
- IPA (American)
- /ˈæθlit/
- IPA (British)
- /ˈæθliːt/
- Respelling
- ATH-leet
- Syllables
- 2 — ÆΘ-lit
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: ÆΘ-lit. “æθ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
American and British are not the same here
/ˈæθlit/
/ˈæθliːt/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “athlete” goes wrong
- Often heard
“ATH-uh-leet”/ˈæθəlit/
two syllables, not three: never insert a vowel between the th and the l
What “athlete” means
- noun
a person trained to compete in sports
Say it in a sentence
“Every serious athlete learns to rest as carefully as they train.”The sounds inside this word
Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.
“athlete”, answered
How do you pronounce “athlete”?
“athlete” is pronounced /ˈæθlit/ (ATH-leet) in American English and /ˈæθliːt/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “æθ”. Build it as ÆΘ-lit, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “athlete” have?
2: æθ · lit. The beat lands on the first, “æθ”. Read letter by letter it looks like 3 (ATH-uh-leet), and that careful version is not wrong — but ordinary speech runs it to 2.
Is “athlete” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ˈæθlit/ (ATH-leet); British English says /ˈæθliːt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “athlete” mean?
As a noun: a person trained to compete in sports For example: “Every serious athlete learns to rest as carefully as they train.”
Where is the stress in “athlete”?
Stress the first syllable: ÆΘ-lit. “æθ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Now say “athlete” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.