Pronunciation

How to pronounce “fatigue

“fatigue” is pronounced /fəˈtiɡ/ (fuh-TEEG) in American English and /fəˈtiːɡ/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “tiɡ”.
The sound

Say “fatigue” in 2 beats

Say it like this

fatigue

/fəˈtiɡ/

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

2 beats
  1. tiɡtiɡstress
IPA (American)
/fəˈtiɡ/
IPA (British)
/fəˈtiːɡ/
Respelling
fuh-TEEG
Syllables
2 — fə-TIꞬ
Stress
Stress the second syllable: fə-TIꞬ. “tiɡ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Part of speech
noun, verb
Difficulty
Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/fəˈtiɡ/

British

/fəˈtiːɡ/

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

Watch out

Where “fatigue” goes wrong

  • Often heard

    FAT-ig-you

    the -gue is a plain g and the stress is on TEEG

Meaning

What “fatigue” means

  1. noun

    temporary loss of strength and energy resulting from hard physical or mental work

    he was hospitalized for extreme fatigue

  2. noun

    used of materials (especially metals) in a weakened state caused by long stress

    metal fatigue

  3. noun

    (always used with a modifier) boredom resulting from overexposure to something

    he was suffering from museum fatigue

Say it in a sentence

After three night shifts the fatigue was impossible to ignore.
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

fatigue”, answered

How do you pronounce “fatigue”?

“fatigue” is pronounced /fəˈtiɡ/ (fuh-TEEG) in American English and /fəˈtiːɡ/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “tiɡ”. Build it as fə-TIꞬ, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “fatigue” have?

2: fə · tiɡ. The beat lands on the second, “tiɡ”. Read letter by letter it looks like 3 (FAT-ig-you), and that careful version is not wrong — but ordinary speech runs it to 2.

Is “fatigue” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /fəˈtiɡ/ (fuh-TEEG); British English says /fəˈtiːɡ/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “fatigue” mean?

As a noun: temporary loss of strength and energy resulting from hard physical or mental work For example: “he was hospitalized for extreme fatigue” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “fatigue”?

Stress the second syllable: fə-TIꞬ. “tiɡ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “fatigue” 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.