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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “desiccate”

“desiccate” is pronounced /ˈdɛsəkeɪt/ (DE-suh-kayt) in American English and /dɛsɪkeɪt/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “dɛ”.
The sound

Say “desiccate” in 3 beats

Say it like this

desiccate

/ˈdɛsəkeɪt/

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

3 beats
  1. dɛdɛstress
  2. səsə
  3. keɪtkeɪt
IPA (American)
/ˈdɛsəkeɪt/
IPA (British)
/dɛsɪkeɪt/
Respelling
DE-suh-kayt
Syllables
3 — DƐ-sə-keɪt
Stress
Stress the first syllable: DƐ-sə-keɪt. “dɛ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
verb, adjective
Difficulty
Legend — spelling and sound part company here
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈdɛsəkeɪt/

British

/dɛsɪkeɪt/

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

Meaning

What “desiccate” means

  1. verb

    preserve by removing all water and liquids from

    “carry dehydrated food on your camping trip”

  2. verb

    remove water from

    “All this exercise and sweating has dehydrated me”

  3. verb

    lose water or moisture

    “In the desert, you get dehydrated very quickly”

Say it in a sentence

“Hot winds desiccate the soil before the seedlings can root.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

7 sounds, in the order you say them
ddɛshort essəschwakkeɪlong att

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

Questions

“desiccate”, answered

How do you pronounce “desiccate”?

“desiccate” is pronounced /ˈdɛsəkeɪt/ (DE-suh-kayt) in American English and /dɛsɪkeɪt/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “dɛ”. Build it as DƐ-sə-keɪt, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “desiccate” have?

3: dɛ · sə · keɪt. The beat lands on the first, “dɛ”.

Is “desiccate” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈdɛsəkeɪt/ (DE-suh-kayt); British English says /dɛsɪkeɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “desiccate” mean?

As a verb: preserve by removing all water and liquids from For example: “carry dehydrated food on your camping trip” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “desiccate”?

Stress the first syllable: DƐ-sə-keɪt. “dɛ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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