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How to pronounce buffet

Buffet, the meal, is pronounced buh-FAY in American English and BOOF-ay in British English. It has two syllables and the t is silent. The verb buffet, to hit again and again, is a different word: BUF-it, with the t said.

Say it yourself
  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on FAY
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

buffet

Two syllables, stress on the second

noun · a meal where people serve themselves from food laid out on a table

  1. buhbə
  2. FAYfeɪ (stressed)
  • US /bəˈfeɪ/buh-FAY Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈbʊf.eɪ/BOOF-ay Your device’s voice

Also said: US /buːˈfeɪ/; UK /ˈbʌf.eɪ/.

Buffet has two pronunciations

  • noun (meal) a meal where people serve themselves

    US /bəˈfeɪ/UK /ˈbʊf.eɪ/buh-FAY

  • verb to hit something hard and again and again, of wind or waves

    US /ˈbʌf.ɪt/UK /ˈbʌf.ɪt/BUF-it

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford lists /ˈbʌf.eɪ/ first for British English. Cambridge also gives /buːˈfeɪ/ for American English. The recording is American English.

Buffet, sound by sound

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

US American English/bəˈfeɪ/

  1. buh

    • /b/as in bad
    • /ə/as in about

  2. FAYstressed

    • /f/as in fall
    • /eɪ/as in day

UK British English/ˈbʊf.eɪ/

  1. BOOFstressed

    • /b/as in bad
    • /ʊ/as in put
    • /f/as in fall

  2. ay

    • /eɪ/as in day

Say buffet yourself

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

Tip. For the meal, the t is silent: fay. Americans stress FAY; British speakers stress the first syllable.

Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.

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buffet

    Common buffet pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say buh-FAY.

    • NotBUF-it

      Using the verb when you mean food. For the meal, drop the t: buh-FAY or BOOF-ay.

    • Notbuh-FET

      Saying the t in the meal word. The French -et here is ay, as in ballet.

    • Notbuh-FAY

      Using the food sound for the verb. When wind or waves hit something, say BUF-it.

    Buffet 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 hotel has a free breakfast buffet.

    • Is dinner a buffet or a sit-down meal?

    • High winds buffet the coast in winter.

    Why does buffet have two pronunciations?

    Buffet is two words with one spelling. The noun, a meal where you serve yourself, comes from French buffet, a side table. The verb, to hit again and again, comes from an Old French word for a blow. They have separate histories and separate sounds.

    The meal word is old in English, but its pronunciation was later remodelled after modern French: no t, and ay at the end. Americans stress the end, buh-FAY. British speakers stress the start: Cambridge lists BOOF-ay, and Oxford lists BUF-ay and BOOF-ay.

    The verb kept an English sound: BUF-it, with the t said, in both accents. Winds and waves buffet things; you eat at a buffet.

    Words that sound like buffet

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