archive
noun and verb · a collection of old records or documents; to store something in one
- ARɑːr (stressed)
- kivekaɪv
- AHɑː (stressed)
- kivekaɪv
- US /ˈɑːr.kaɪv/AR-kive Recorded voice
- UK /ˈɑː.kaɪv/AH-kive Your device’s voice
How to pronounce archive
Archive is pronounced AR-kive in American English and AH-kive in British English. It has two syllables with the stress on the first. The ch is a K sound, and the second syllable rhymes with five and hive.
- 2 syllables
- Stress on AR
- US and UK IPA
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.
Archive, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ˈɑːr.kaɪv/
ARstressed
- /ɑː/as in father
- /r/as in red
kive
- /k/as in cat
- /aɪ/as in my
- /v/as in van
UK British English/ˈɑː.kaɪv/
AHstressed
- /ɑː/as in father
kive
- /k/as in cat
- /aɪ/as in my
- /v/as in van
Say archive yourself
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Tip. The ch is a K sound, and the second syllable rhymes with five: kive.
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Common archive pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say AR-kive.
Not
AR-chiveSaying ch as in chair or arch. In this Greek word the ch is always K.
Not
AR-sheevUsing the French sound, with sh and ee. In English it is K, then the eye vowel of five.
Not
ar-KIVEStressing the second syllable. Put the weight on AR (US) or AH (UK).
Archive 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.
The library keeps an archive of old newspapers.
You can archive old emails instead of deleting them.
The photo archive goes back to 1890.
Does archive rhyme with five?
The second half of the word is the surprise. The end of archive is kive, the same sound as in five and hive. That surprises learners who know active, native and massive, where -ive is a short iv. Cambridge and Oxford give only kive for archive, in both accents.
The ch is a K sound because the word is Greek. It goes back to arkheion, a public office where records were kept, and reached English through Latin and French. Greek words spelled with ch, such as archaic, archangel and chaos, use K.
Be careful with archbishop and archenemy. There arch- is an old English prefix, and the ch is the ch of church. In archive, start with AR (US) or AH (UK), then say kive.
Words that sound like archive
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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