How to pronounce “beautiful”
Say “beautiful” in 3 beats
beautiful
/ˈbjutəfəl/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ˈbjuːtɪfʊl/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- beautbjustress
- iftə
- ulfəl
- IPA (American)
- /ˈbjutəfəl/
- IPA (British)
- /ˈbjuːtɪfʊl/
- Respelling
- BYOO-tuh-fuhl
- Syllables
- 3 — BEAUT-if-ul
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: BEAUT-if-ul. “beaut” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
American and British are not the same here
/ˈbjutəfəl/
/ˈbjuːtɪfʊl/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “beautiful” goes wrong
- Often heard
“BEE-yoo-ti-ful”
the word starts with a y-glide, byoo, not a separate bee syllable
What “beautiful” means
- adjective
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
“a beautiful child”
- adjective
(of weather) highly enjoyable
“what a beautiful day”
Say it in a sentence
“The light on the water that evening was genuinely beautiful.”“beautiful”, answered
How do you pronounce “beautiful”?
“beautiful” is pronounced /ˈbjutəfəl/ (BYOO-tuh-fuhl) in American English and /ˈbjuːtɪfʊl/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “beaut”. Build it as BEAUT-if-ul, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “beautiful” have?
3: beaut · if · ul. The beat lands on the first, “beaut”. Read letter by letter it looks like 4 (BEE-yoo-ti-ful), and that careful version is not wrong — but ordinary speech runs it to 3.
Is “beautiful” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ˈbjutəfəl/ (BYOO-tuh-fuhl); British English says /ˈbjuːtɪfʊl/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “beautiful” mean?
As an adjective: delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration For example: “a beautiful child” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “beautiful”?
Stress the first syllable: BEAUT-if-ul. “beaut” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Now say “beautiful” 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.