Pronunciation

How to pronounce “gender

“gender” is pronounced /ˈdʒɛndɚ/ (JEN-duh) in American English and /dʒɛndə/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “gen”.
The sound

Say “gender” in 2 beats

Say it like this

gender

/ˈdʒɛndɚ/

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

2 beats
  1. gendʒɛnstress
  2. der
IPA (American)
/ˈdʒɛndɚ/
IPA (British)
/dʒɛndə/
Respelling
JEN-duh
Syllables
2 — GEN-der
Stress
Stress the first syllable: GEN-der. “gen” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Part of speech
noun
Difficulty
Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈdʒɛndɚ/

British

/dʒɛndə/

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

Meaning

What “gender” means

  1. noun

    a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in Indo-European languages it is usually based on sex or animateness

  2. noun

    the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles

    she didn't want to know the sex of the foetus

Say it in a sentence

In French, every noun carries a gender you have to learn.
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

gender”, answered

How do you pronounce “gender”?

“gender” is pronounced /ˈdʒɛndɚ/ (JEN-duh) in American English and /dʒɛndə/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “gen”. Build it as GEN-der, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “gender” have?

2: gen · der. The beat lands on the first, “gen”.

Is “gender” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈdʒɛndɚ/ (JEN-duh); British English says /dʒɛndə/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “gender” mean?

As a noun: a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in Indo-European languages it is usually based on sex or animateness For example: “In French, every noun carries a gender you have to learn.” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “gender”?

Stress the first syllable: GEN-der. “gen” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “gender” 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.