campaign
noun and verb · a planned series of actions to reach a goal, such as winning an election
- kamkæm
- PAYNpeɪn (stressed)
- kamkæm
- PAYNpeɪn (stressed)
- US /kæmˈpeɪn/kam-PAYN Recorded voice
- UK /kæmˈpeɪn/kam-PAYN Your device’s voice
How to pronounce campaign
Campaign is pronounced kam-PAYN in both American and British English. It has two syllables with the stress on the second, and the G is silent: the end sounds like pain.
- 2 syllables
- Stress on PAYN
- 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.
Campaign, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
USUK American and British English/kæmˈpeɪn/
kam
- /k/as in cat
- /æ/as in cat
- /m/as in man
PAYNstressed
- /p/as in pen
- /eɪ/as in day
- /n/as in now
Say campaign yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes campaign, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. The second syllable is PAYN, like pain. The G is silent.
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Common campaign pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say kam-PAYN.
Not
kam-PAYGNSaying the G. It is silent: end on N, as in pain.
Not
KAM-paynStressing the first syllable. The stress is on PAYN.
Not
kam-PAN-yuhKeeping the ny sound of French campagne or Spanish campaña. English ends on a plain N.
Campaign 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.
Her campaign for mayor starts next week.
The new ad campaign was a big success.
They campaign every year for cleaner rivers.
Why is the g in campaign silent?
Campaign came into English from French campagne, which came from Italian campagna, open country or a battlefield. Behind both is Latin campania, from campus, a field.
In French and Italian, gn is one sound, like the ny in canyon. English never used that sound, so the G disappeared from speech and only the N is left. The spelling -aign is the same as in champagne, which comes from the same Latin word and rhymes with campaign.
Say it as two easy parts, kam and PAYN, and put the weight on PAYN.
Words that sound like campaign
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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