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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “philosophy”

“philosophy” is pronounced /fəˈlɑsəfi/ (fuh-LAH-suh-fee) in American English and /fɪlɒsəfi/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “os”.
The sound

Say “philosophy” in 4 beats

Say it like this

philosophy

/fəˈlɑsəfi/

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

4 beats
  1. philfə
  2. oslɑstress
  3. opsə
  4. hyfi
IPA (American)
/fəˈlɑsəfi/
IPA (British)
/fɪlɒsəfi/
Respelling
fuh-LAH-suh-fee
Syllables
4 — phil-OS-op-hy
Stress
Stress the second syllable: phil-OS-op-hy. “os” 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

/fəˈlɑsəfi/

British

/fɪlɒsəfi/

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

Meaning

What “philosophy” means

  1. noun

    a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school

  2. noun

    the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics

  3. noun

    any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation

    “self-indulgence was his only philosophy”

Say it in a sentence

“His philosophy is that anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

6 sounds, in the order you say them
ff×2əschwa×2llɑahssilong e

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

Questions

“philosophy”, answered

How do you pronounce “philosophy”?

“philosophy” is pronounced /fəˈlɑsəfi/ (fuh-LAH-suh-fee) in American English and /fɪlɒsəfi/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “os”. Build it as phil-OS-op-hy, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “philosophy” have?

4: phil · os · op · hy. The beat lands on the second, “os”.

Is “philosophy” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /fəˈlɑsəfi/ (fuh-LAH-suh-fee); British English says /fɪlɒsəfi/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “philosophy” mean?

As a noun: a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school For example: “His philosophy is that anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “philosophy”?

Stress the second syllable: phil-OS-op-hy. “os” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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