Pronunciation

How to pronounce “image

“image” is pronounced /ˈɪmədʒ/ (I-muhj) in American English and /ɪmɪdʒ/ in British English, and /ˈɪmɪdʒ/ is also accepted — 2 syllables, stressed on “ɪ”.
The sound

Say “image” in 2 beats

Say it like this

image

/ˈɪmədʒ/

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

2 beats
  1. ɪɪstress
  2. mədʒmədʒ
IPA (American)
/ˈɪmədʒ/
IPA (British)
/ɪmɪdʒ/
Also accepted
/ˈɪmɪdʒ/
Respelling
I-muhj
Syllables
2 — Ɪ-mədʒ
Stress
Stress the first syllable: Ɪ-mədʒ. “ɪ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Part of speech
noun, verb
Difficulty
Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈɪmədʒ/

British

/ɪmɪdʒ/

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

Meaning

What “image” means

  1. noun

    an iconic mental representation

    her imagination forced images upon her too awful to contemplate

  2. noun

    (Jungian psychology) a personal facade that one presents to the world

    a public image is as fragile as Humpty Dumpty

  3. noun

    a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface

    they showed us the pictures of their wedding

Say it in a sentence

The image of that harbour stayed with her for years.
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

4 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

image”, answered

How do you pronounce “image”?

“image” is pronounced /ˈɪmədʒ/ (I-muhj) in American English and /ɪmɪdʒ/ in British English, and /ˈɪmɪdʒ/ is also accepted — 2 syllables, stressed on “ɪ”. Build it as Ɪ-mədʒ, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “image” have?

2: ɪ · mədʒ. The beat lands on the first, “ɪ”.

Is “image” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈɪmədʒ/ (I-muhj); British English says /ɪmɪdʒ/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “image” mean?

As a noun: an iconic mental representation For example: “her imagination forced images upon her too awful to contemplate” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “image”?

Stress the first syllable: Ɪ-mədʒ. “ɪ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “image” 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.