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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “latency”

“latency” is pronounced /ˈleɪtənsi/ (LAY-tuhn-see) in American English and /leɪtənsi/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “lat”.
The sound

Say “latency” in 3 beats

Say it like this

latency

/ˈleɪtənsi/

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

3 beats
  1. latleɪstress
  2. entən
  3. cysi
IPA (American)
/ˈleɪtənsi/
IPA (British)
/leɪtənsi/
Respelling
LAY-tuhn-see
Syllables
3 — LAT-en-cy
Stress
Stress the first syllable: LAT-en-cy. “lat” 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
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈleɪtənsi/

British

/leɪtənsi/

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

Meaning

What “latency” means

  1. noun

    (computer science) the time it takes for a specific block of data on a data track to rotate around to the read/write head

  2. noun

    the time that elapses between a stimulus and the response to it

  3. noun

    the state of being not yet evident or active

Say it in a sentence

“Latency on the line made the call almost unusable.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

7 sounds, in the order you say them
lleɪlong attəschwannssilong e

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

Questions

“latency”, answered

How do you pronounce “latency”?

“latency” is pronounced /ˈleɪtənsi/ (LAY-tuhn-see) in American English and /leɪtənsi/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “lat”. Build it as LAT-en-cy, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “latency” have?

3: lat · en · cy. The beat lands on the first, “lat”.

Is “latency” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈleɪtənsi/ (LAY-tuhn-see); British English says /leɪtənsi/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “latency” mean?

As a noun: (computer science) the time it takes for a specific block of data on a data track to rotate around to the read/write head For example: “Latency on the line made the call almost unusable.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “latency”?

Stress the first syllable: LAT-en-cy. “lat” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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