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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “decipher”

“decipher” is pronounced /dɪˈsaɪfɚ/ (di-SY-fuh) in American English and /dɪsaɪfə/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “ip”.
The sound

Say “decipher” in 3 beats

Say it like this

decipher

/dɪˈsaɪfɚ/

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

3 beats
  1. decdɪ
  2. ipsaɪstress
  3. herfɚ
IPA (American)
/dɪˈsaɪfɚ/
IPA (British)
/dɪsaɪfə/
Respelling
di-SY-fuh
Syllables
3 — dec-IP-her
Stress
Stress the second syllable: dec-IP-her. “ip” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
verb
Difficulty
Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/dɪˈsaɪfɚ/

British

/dɪsaɪfə/

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

Meaning

What “decipher” means

  1. verb

    convert code into ordinary language

  2. verb

    read with difficulty

    “Can you decipher this letter?”

Say it in a sentence

“It took an hour to decipher his handwriting on the card.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

6 sounds, in the order you say them
ddɪshort issaɪlong iffɚschwa

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

Questions

“decipher”, answered

How do you pronounce “decipher”?

“decipher” is pronounced /dɪˈsaɪfɚ/ (di-SY-fuh) in American English and /dɪsaɪfə/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “ip”. Build it as dec-IP-her, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “decipher” have?

3: dec · ip · her. The beat lands on the second, “ip”.

Is “decipher” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /dɪˈsaɪfɚ/ (di-SY-fuh); British English says /dɪsaɪfə/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “decipher” mean?

As a verb: convert code into ordinary language For example: “It took an hour to decipher his handwriting on the card.” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “decipher”?

Stress the second syllable: dec-IP-her. “ip” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “decipher” and see every sound

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