Pronunciation

How to pronounce “officious

“officious” is pronounced /əˈfɪʃəs/ (uh-FISH-uhs) — 3 syllables, stressed on “fic”.
The sound

Say “officious” in 3 beats

Say it like this

officious

/əˈfɪʃəs/

The voice you hear here is American; a British voice is available in the app's settings.

3 beats
  1. ofə
  2. ficstress
  3. iousʃəs
IPA (American)
/əˈfɪʃəs/
IPA (British)
/əˈfɪʃəs/
Respelling
uh-FISH-uhs
Syllables
3 — of-FIC-ious
Stress
Stress the second syllable: of-FIC-ious. “fic” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
adjective
Difficulty
Legend — spelling and sound part company here
Watch out

Where “officious” goes wrong

  • Often heard

    OFF-ish-us

    the stress is on FISH; it means meddling, not official

Meaning

What “officious” means

  1. adjective

    intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner

    an interfering old woman

Say it in a sentence

An officious clerk made us fill in the same form twice.
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

officious”, answered

How do you pronounce “officious”?

“officious” is pronounced /əˈfɪʃəs/ (uh-FISH-uhs) — 3 syllables, stressed on “fic”. Build it as of-FIC-ious, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “officious” have?

3: of · fic · ious. The beat lands on the second, “fic”.

What does “officious” mean?

As an adjective: intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner For example: “an interfering old woman”

Where is the stress in “officious”?

Stress the second syllable: of-FIC-ious. “fic” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “officious” and see every sound

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