How to pronounce “irony”
Say “irony” in 3 beats
irony
/ˈaɪɹəni/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /aɪɹəni/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- iraɪstress
- onɹə
- yni
- IPA (American)
- /ˈaɪɹəni/
- IPA (British)
- /aɪɹəni/
- Respelling
- Y-ruh-nee
- Syllables
- 3 — IR-on-y
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: IR-on-y. “ir” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
American and British are not the same here
/ˈaɪɹəni/
/aɪɹəni/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
What “irony” means
- noun
witty language used to convey insults or scorn; ; ; --Jonathan Swift
“he used sarcasm to upset his opponent”
- noun
incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs
“the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated”
- noun
a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
Say it in a sentence
“The irony of forgetting the map was lost on nobody.”“irony”, answered
How do you pronounce “irony”?
“irony” is pronounced /ˈaɪɹəni/ (Y-ruh-nee) in American English and /aɪɹəni/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “ir”. Build it as IR-on-y, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “irony” have?
3: ir · on · y. The beat lands on the first, “ir”.
Is “irony” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ˈaɪɹəni/ (Y-ruh-nee); British English says /aɪɹəni/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “irony” mean?
As a noun: witty language used to convey insults or scorn; ; ; --Jonathan Swift For example: “he used sarcasm to upset his opponent” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “irony”?
Stress the first syllable: IR-on-y. “ir” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Now say “irony” 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.