How to pronounce “thumb”
Say “thumb” in one beat
thumb
/θʌm/
The voice you hear here is American; a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- thumbθʌm
- IPA (American)
- /θʌm/
- IPA (British)
- /θʌm/
- Respelling
- THUM
- Syllables
- 1 — thumb
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /θʌm/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Where “thumb” goes wrong
- Often heard
“THUMB with a b”
the final b is silent: THUM
What “thumb” means
- noun
the thick short innermost digit of the forelimb
- noun
the part of a glove that provides a covering for the thumb
- noun
a convex molding having a cross section in the form of a quarter of a circle or of an ellipse
Say it in a sentence
“He hit his thumb with the hammer and dropped the nail.”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.
“thumb”, answered
How do you pronounce “thumb”?
“thumb” is pronounced /θʌm/ (THUM) — one syllable. It is one unbroken piece — /θʌm/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “thumb” have?
One, despite the 1 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /θʌm/ — a single beat.
What does “thumb” mean?
As a noun: the thick short innermost digit of the forelimb For example: “He hit his thumb with the hammer and dropped the nail.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “thumb”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /θʌm/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “thumb” 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.