How to pronounce “nothing”
Say “nothing” in 2 beats
nothing
/ˈnʌθɪŋ/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /nʌθɪŋ/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- notnʌstress
- hingθɪŋ
- IPA (American)
- /ˈnʌθɪŋ/
- IPA (British)
- /nʌθɪŋ/
- Respelling
- NU-thing
- Syllables
- 2 — NOT-hing
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: NOT-hing. “not” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun, adverb
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
American and British are not the same here
/ˈnʌθɪŋ/
/nʌθɪŋ/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
What “nothing” means
- noun
a quantity of no importance
“it looked like nothing I had ever seen before”
- adverb
in no respect; to no degree
“he looks nothing like his father”
Say it in a sentence
“There was nothing left in the fridge but a few eggs.”The sounds inside this word
Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.
“nothing”, answered
How do you pronounce “nothing”?
“nothing” is pronounced /ˈnʌθɪŋ/ (NU-thing) in American English and /nʌθɪŋ/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “not”. Build it as NOT-hing, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “nothing” have?
2: not · hing. The beat lands on the first, “not”.
Is “nothing” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ˈnʌθɪŋ/ (NU-thing); British English says /nʌθɪŋ/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “nothing” mean?
As a noun: a quantity of no importance For example: “it looked like nothing I had ever seen before” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “nothing”?
Stress the first syllable: NOT-hing. “not” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Now say “nothing” 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.