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How to pronounce anxious

Anxious is pronounced ANGK-shus. It has two syllables with the stress on the first. The x makes two sounds, k and sh, and the n before it becomes ng, as in bank. It is the same in American and British English.

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  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on ANGK
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

anxious

Two syllables, stress on the first

adjective · worried and nervous; also, wanting something very much

  1. ANGKæŋk (stressed)
  2. shusʃəs
  • US /ˈæŋk.ʃəs/ANGK-shus Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈæŋk.ʃəs/ANGK-shus Your device’s voice

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.

Anxious, sound by sound

Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.

USUK American and British English/ˈæŋk.ʃəs/

  1. ANGKstressed

    • /æ/as in cat
    • /ŋ/as in sing
    • /k/as in cat

  2. shus

    • /ʃ/as in shoe
    • /ə/as in about
    • /s/as in see

Say anxious yourself

Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes anxious, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.

Tip. The x sounds like k and sh together.

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anxious

    Common anxious pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say ANGK-shus.

    • NotANK-see-us

      Saying xi as ksee and adding a third syllable. The i is not a vowel of its own here; it turns the s into sh.

    • Notang-ZY-us

      Borrowing the sound of anxiety. In anxious the x is k plus sh, and the stress stays on the first syllable.

    • NotAN-shus

      Dropping the k. Say ng and then k, as in bank, before the sh: ANGK-shus.

    Anxious in a sentence

    Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.

    • I always get anxious before a big exam.

    • She was anxious about driving home in the snow.

    • We're anxious to hear how the interview went.

    How do you say the x in anxious?

    The letter x usually stands for ks, as in box and taxi. In anxious, the s part joins the i after it and turns into sh. The same thing happens in noxious and obnoxious. So you get k plus sh: ANGK-shus.

    The n is not a plain n either. Before a k sound, n moves to the back of the mouth and becomes ng, as in bank, think and ankle.

    Be careful with anxiety. It belongs to the same Latin family, but there the x sounds like z and the stress moves: ang-ZY-uh-tee. Learn the two together: ANGK-shus, ang-ZY-uh-tee.

    Words that sound like anxious

    Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.

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