Pronunciation

How to pronounce “colleague

“colleague” is pronounced /ˈkɑliɡ/ (KAH-leeg) in American English and /kɒliːɡ/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “kɑ”.
The sound

Say “colleague” in 2 beats

Say it like this

colleague

/ˈkɑliɡ/

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

2 beats
  1. stress
  2. liɡliɡ
IPA (American)
/ˈkɑliɡ/
IPA (British)
/kɒliːɡ/
Respelling
KAH-leeg
Syllables
2 — KⱭ-liɡ
Stress
Stress the first syllable: KⱭ-liɡ. “kɑ” 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
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈkɑliɡ/

British

/kɒliːɡ/

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

Meaning

What “colleague” means

  1. noun

    an associate that one works with

  2. noun

    a person who is member of one's class or profession

    the surgeon consulted his colleagues

Say it in a sentence

A colleague covered my shift while I was away in June.
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

5 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

colleague”, answered

How do you pronounce “colleague”?

“colleague” is pronounced /ˈkɑliɡ/ (KAH-leeg) in American English and /kɒliːɡ/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “kɑ”. Build it as KⱭ-liɡ, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “colleague” have?

2: kɑ · liɡ. The beat lands on the first, “kɑ”.

Is “colleague” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈkɑliɡ/ (KAH-leeg); British English says /kɒliːɡ/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “colleague” mean?

As a noun: an associate that one works with For example: “A colleague covered my shift while I was away in June.” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “colleague”?

Stress the first syllable: KⱭ-liɡ. “kɑ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “colleague” 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.