Slova
Chamomile is pronounced KAM-uh-mile. It has three syllables with the stress on the first. The ch is a k sound, and the end sounds like the word mile. Some Americans end it with meel instead.
chamomile
noun · a plant with small white flowers, often used to make tea
Also said: US /ˈkæm.ə.miːl/.
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge also lists KAM-uh-meel for American English. The recording is American English.
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
USUK American and British English/ˈkæm.ə.maɪl/
KAMstressed
uh
mile
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes chamomile, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. The ch is a K sound. The end rhymes with mile.
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chamomile
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What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say KAM-uh-mile.
NotCHAM-uh-mile
Saying ch as in chair. In this Greek word, ch is a k sound.
NotKAM-oh-mile
Saying a full oh in the middle. The middle syllable is a short, weak uh.
NotKAM-uh-mill
Reading ile as a short ill. The end rhymes with mile, or with meel for some Americans.
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
I drink chamomile tea before bed.
Chamomile flowers look like small daisies.
Would you like chamomile or mint?
Chamomile reached English through Latin from Greek, where its name meant earth apple. In words that come from Greek, ch usually stands for a k sound: chaos, character, chemistry and chameleon all start with k.
English kept the Greek-style ch in the spelling. British English also spells the word camomile, without the h, and says it the same way.
The last syllable is the word mile in both accents, and Cambridge also lists KAM-uh-meel for American English. Whichever ending you choose, keep the stress on KAM and the middle syllable short: uh.
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
In Slova you say new words out loud in every lesson, at your level, in lessons built around what you love.