How to pronounce “reciprocal”
Say “reciprocal” in 4 beats
reciprocal
/ɹɪˈsɪpɹəkəl/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ɹɪsɪpɹəkəl/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- recɹɪ
- ipsɪstress
- rocpɹə
- alkəl
- IPA (American)
- /ɹɪˈsɪpɹəkəl/
- IPA (British)
- /ɹɪsɪpɹəkəl/
- Respelling
- ri-SI-pruh-kuhl
- Syllables
- 4 — rec-IP-roc-al
- Stress
- Stress the second syllable: rec-IP-roc-al. “ip” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun, adjective
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
American and British are not the same here
/ɹɪˈsɪpɹəkəl/
/ɹɪsɪpɹəkəl/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
What “reciprocal” means
- noun
something (a term or expression or concept) that has a reciprocal relation to something else
“risk is the reciprocal of safety”
- noun
(mathematics) one of a pair of numbers whose product is 1: the reciprocal of 2/3 is 3/2; the multiplicative inverse of 7 is 1/7
- noun
hybridization involving a pair of crosses that reverse the sexes associated with each genotype
Say it in a sentence
“The reciprocal of four is simply one quarter.”“reciprocal”, answered
How do you pronounce “reciprocal”?
“reciprocal” is pronounced /ɹɪˈsɪpɹəkəl/ (ri-SI-pruh-kuhl) in American English and /ɹɪsɪpɹəkəl/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “ip”. Build it as rec-IP-roc-al, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “reciprocal” have?
4: rec · ip · roc · al. The beat lands on the second, “ip”.
Is “reciprocal” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ɹɪˈsɪpɹəkəl/ (ri-SI-pruh-kuhl); British English says /ɹɪsɪpɹəkəl/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “reciprocal” mean?
As a noun: something (a term or expression or concept) that has a reciprocal relation to something else For example: “risk is the reciprocal of safety” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “reciprocal”?
Stress the second syllable: rec-IP-roc-al. “ip” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Now say “reciprocal” 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.