Pronunciation

How to pronounce “calories

“calories” is pronounced /ˈkælɚiz/ (KA-luh-eez) in American English and /kaləɹiz/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “cal”.
The sound

Say “calories” in 3 beats

Say it like this

calories

/ˈkælɚiz/

The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /kaləɹiz/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.

3 beats
  1. calstress
  2. or
  3. iesiz
IPA (American)
/ˈkælɚiz/
IPA (British)
/kaləɹiz/
Respelling
KA-luh-eez
Syllables
3 — CAL-or-ies
Stress
Stress the first syllable: CAL-or-ies. “cal” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
noun
Difficulty
Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈkælɚiz/

British

/kaləɹiz/

No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.

Meaning

What “calories” means

  1. noun

    a unit of heat equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree at one atmosphere pressure; used by nutritionists to characterize the energy-producing potential in food

  2. noun

    unit of heat defined as the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree centigrade at atmospheric pressure

Say it in a sentence

He counts calories carefully during the training season.
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

6 sounds, in the order you say them

Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.

Questions

calories”, answered

How do you pronounce “calories”?

“calories” is pronounced /ˈkælɚiz/ (KA-luh-eez) in American English and /kaləɹiz/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “cal”. Build it as CAL-or-ies, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “calories” have?

3: cal · or · ies. The beat lands on the first, “cal”.

Is “calories” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈkælɚiz/ (KA-luh-eez); British English says /kaləɹiz/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “calories” mean?

As a noun: a unit of heat equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree at one atmosphere pressure; used by nutritionists to characterize the energy-producing potential in food For example: “He counts calories carefully during the training season.” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “calories”?

Stress the first syllable: CAL-or-ies. “cal” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “calories” 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.