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How to pronounce choir

Choir is pronounced KWY-er in American English and KWY-uh in British English. It sounds like quire and rhymes with wire. The ch makes a kw sound, and the oi is the eye sound in my.

Say it yourself
  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on KWY
  • Sounds like quire
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

choir

Two syllables, stress on the first

noun · a group of people who sing together, especially in a church or school

  1. KWYkwaɪ (stressed)
  2. erɚ
  • US /ˈkwaɪ.ɚ/KWY-er Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈkwaɪ.ə/KWY-uh Your device’s voice

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge writes the British form as one long syllable, /kwaɪər/. Oxford shows two syllables, as we do. The recording is American English.

Choir, sound by sound

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

US American English/ˈkwaɪ.ɚ/

  1. KWYstressed

    • /k/as in cat
    • /w/as in wet
    • /aɪ/as in my

  2. er

    • /ɚ/as in mother (US)

UK British English/ˈkwaɪ.ə/

  1. KWYstressed

    • /k/as in cat
    • /w/as in wet
    • /aɪ/as in my

  2. uh

    • /ə/as in about

Say choir yourself

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

Tip. Choir starts with kw, as in quiet. The ch is not the ch of chair, and oi sounds like the word eye.

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

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choir

    Common choir pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say KWY-er.

    • NotCHOY-er

      Reading ch as in chair and oi as in boy. Start with kw and say the eye sound: KWY-er.

    • NotKOY-er

      The k is right, but oi here is not the oi of boy. Say KWY, like quite without the t.

    • NotKWAHR

      Reading oir as in memoir or reservoir. In choir, oi sounds like the word eye: KWY-er.

    Choir 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.

    • My daughter sings in the school choir.

    • The church choir practises every Thursday evening.

    • A gospel choir sang at their wedding.

    Why does choir start with a kw sound?

    The word came into English in the Middle Ages from Old French cuer, which goes back to the Latin chorus. English spelled it quer or quere, and later quire, which matches the sound well.

    Later the spelling was changed to choir, to look more like the Latin chorus. The pronunciation did not change, so the word kept its kw sound behind new letters. The old spelling still appears in the Book of Common Prayer: in quires and places where they sing.

    Related words keep the ch as k but have no w: chorus and choral start with a plain k, as in Christmas. Choir, and words built on it such as choirmaster, are the ones with kw.

    Words that sound like choir

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

    More everyday words people get wrong

    All 170 difficult words

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